Current & Former Boss Of Playtech In Management Buyout Of Company

Tom Hall the former chief executive of Playtech has refuted the claims that he was involved in the shareholder refusal to accept the recent rebuffed offer from Aristocrat.

In an article in the Times newspaper over the weekend Mr. Hall said he had no connection or knowledge of the so-called Asian bloc of investors that was blamed in blocking the £2.7 billion deal from Aristocrat when shareholders voted against by some 45%.

The Playtech chief from 2003 to 2005 said his discussions after with the takeover panel showed he had no dealings with the investor group and that current chief executive Mor Weizer said that it was just not the bloc of Asian based investors that was opposed to the deal but a sizeable bloc of UK based investors that felt the Aristocrat deal valued the company too low with the offer.

Rumours of Mr. Hall’s involvement were created because of him living in Hong Kong and already have an investment vehicle himself, however these rumours have been denied by the former chief executive. But in February the former boss and current chief executive have confirmed they are leading a management buyout of Playtech and want to push Playtech further into the US market where growth in online gambling and sports betting is rapidly expanding.

Few details of the deal are available at present but for the current chief executive More Weizer the stakes are high, he has been with Playech for 17 years but failure to win a deal to takeover the software giant would most likely mean he would have to resign.