Scientific Games chairman considers selling entire stake

Scientific Games’ high-profile executive chairman Ron Perelman is considering selling his entire 39% stake in the Las Vegas-based gaming tech supplier.

Billionaire tycoon Perelman (pictured) has issued a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission through his MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings investment vehicle in which he outlined the possibility of divesting his 36.8m shares. The value of the stake is estimated to be around $1.5bn.

Perelman, 77, has a number of interests across many sectors through MacAndrews & Forbes with major investments in groups, most prominently in cosmetics giant Revlon.

The SEC filing read: “The reporting persons have determined to explore a possible sale of the common stock that the reporting persons currently hold.

“As of the date of this Amendment No. 13, the reporting persons have not formulated any specific or definitive plan or proposal relating to the matters described in this paragraph, and there can be no assurance that any transaction will occur or as to the terms of any such transaction.”

Perelman has upped his stake in Scientific Games over the last couple of years with a number of significant stock purchases. The group’s share price closed up 4.18% to $16.19 in New York Wednesday (15 July).

The supplier saw revenue hit by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, with revenue down 13.0% year-on-year at $725m, and net loss rose to $159m for the period. This decline was caused by lower contributions from its land-based gaming and lottery businesses, though finance chief Michael Quartieri said efforts to reduce costs and strong liquidity would help the business withstand the pandemic.