The provider said on Monday that the deal to purchase Plus500 for an approximate £459.6m, which was first announced in June, has been terminated as it was not able to meet FCA terms it had to meet to complete the deal before a deadline of 31 December 2015, and that its agreement to buy Forex broker Ava Trade for $105m has also been terminated.
The FCA conducted a review into Plus500’s anti-money laundering checks earlier this year and its shares were suspended in May.
With the FCA and Plus500, the point is that it couldn’t be done in the time frameJames NewmanPlaytech said in the Plus500 announcement that the termination of the agreement “increased the risk” that Ava Trade sellers would exorcise the right to terminate the deal for Playtech to buy Ava Trade.
That right was triggered when the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) opposed the acquisition in October.
James Newman, senior consultant – financial and corporate for PR agency Bell Pottinger, who spoke on behalf of Playtech, told Gambling Insider that it would have been able to adhere to the terms set out by the FCA.
He said: “The guys have said that it [the financial trading market] is still going to be an area of focus for them. They’ve got Trade FX at the moment, which is doing well. This won't cause issues going forward. With the FCA and Plus500, the point is that it couldn’t be done in the time frame. However, both sides were working towards getting it done. They [the terms] were surmountable. They could have been answered.”
Playtech completed the acquisition of a fully-diluted 91.1% stake platform and payments services provider Trade FX in May.
The CBI’s opposition to Playtech’s acquisition of Ava Trade is currently being appealed by Playtech and Newman was not able to comment about that deal, due to the appeal process being an ongoing issue.
