Skip to main content

Tatts Group’s Shareholders Give the Green Light to Tabcorp Takeover Deal

Australian gambling operator Tatts Group has overcome one of the last remaining obstacles in its way to completing the merger with Tabcorp Holdings after its shareholders voted in favour of the deal. The vote was scheduled for December 12th, with the Tatts Group’s shareholders previously being urged by the company to back the long-awaited takeover by the betting operator Tabcorp Holdings.

Apart from announcing the fact that the deal got the green light by Tatt’s shareholders, the gambling company explained that it has already filed an application to the Supreme Court of Victoria for approval of the deal at a hearing that is set for December 13th.

A few weeks ago, the Australian Competition Tribunal (ACT) reiterated its decision to approve the takeover. This time, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which has been one of the major opponents of the deal, said it was not able to find any “error of law” and did not oppose to the takeover offer that has been estimated to a total of AU$4.7 billion. Basically, this has cleared the regulatory hurdles for the deal that has been on the table for quite some time.

The deal between the two Australian companies that would end up creating a gambling behemoth has stuck a few times since Tatts Group and Tabcorp Holdings announced their plans to join forces a bit more than a year ago. This has been their third attempt to merge, after two previous attempt have already failed to do so.

The takeover deal is planned to be carried out through a scheme of arrangement. In order for the merger to be greenlighted, at least 75% of Tatts’ shareholders needed to give their approval.

Tabcorp-Tatts Tie-Up Faced Strong Opposition

As mentioned above, the deal between the two Australian gambling operators has finally seen some hurdles before it being removed, after the Supreme Court Victoria gave it the nod and ordered Tatts Group to schedule a shareholders’ vote.

Still, apart from that, the Supreme Court has provided the opponents of the deal, including the local customer regulatory authority (ACCC) and CrownBet, with the opportunity to appeal its decision until December 20th. As explained above, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has found no reason to oppose to the deal once again and revealed that it had no intention to appeal.

The two gambling operators which are currently some of the largest gambling companies in Australia made a total of three attempts to join forces since 2006. They last announced a proposal for a massive takeover deal in 2016, but faced serious hurdles and delays on their path.

Most recently, their deal faced the opposition of the ACCC and CrownBet, with the two of them challenging the initial approval which the proposed merger got from the Australian Competition Tribunal. Due to that, the deal was sent back to the Tribunal for another review, as the opponents of the merger claimed that the deal would have a devastating impact on the country’s gambling market and local competition.



 Author: Harrison Young

Harrison Young is an experienced writer, who started his career almost 8 years ago. Prior to joining our team at CasinoGamesPro, he worked as an editor for a small magazine.
»