Bally’s dismisses Standard General takeover bid

Bally’s said that a special committee of its board directors had terminated all consideration of the proposal.

The Bally’s board also advised the business to seek a cash tender offer for its shares, which is projected to raise between $300m-$500m.

Lee Fenton, CEO of Bally’s, said that the operator has a number of opportunities for growth in its future.

“The company has very substantial opportunities before it, including the integration of the Gamesys acquisition, the build-out of Bally’s North American interactive business and the continued strategic expansion of our land-based footprint in the US,” said Fenton. “With these opportunities in front of us, we have great confidence in the future as we move forward.”

Soo Kim, Standard General’s managing partner and chair of Bally’s, said that the decision to terminate the deal would not affect how Standard General supports the operator.

“While we are of course disappointed with the outcome of the discussions of our proposal, as we said from the outset, we intend to remain a supportive, long-term investor in the company,” said Kim. 

The $2.07bn (£1.48bn/€1.77bn) bid was submitted in January this year. At the time of submission Standard General owned over 20% of the business.

Had it gone through, Standard General would have acquired all Bally’s shares it did not already own, paying $38.00 per share.

In February, Bally’s retained both Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc as a financial advisor and Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP as legal counsel in relation to the bid.