Ladbrokes Owner Entain Set to Acquire Enlabs in April

Ladbrokes owner Entain has completed the recommended public cash offer to the shareholders of Enlabs and extended the acceptance period.

Entain’s offer to acquire Enlabs was first put forward in January, with the operator offering to pay SEK40 per share for the business. In March, Entain increased the offer from SEK 40 per share to SEK 53 per share.

The revised offer has been accepted by shareholders holding a total of 65.9m shares, approximately 94.2% of the total number of shares and votes in Enlabs.

All conditions for the completion of the offer have been satisfied, Entain said, and the operator has, therefore, declared the offer unconditional.

Payment for the Enlabs shares tendered by March 18 is expected to occur on or around March 30.

The offer does not include warrants issued by Enlabs and acquired by employees under the company’s incentive programme.

In a separate offer, Entain has proposed acquiring all interests owned by the warrant holders at a price equal to the see-through value of the warrants on the basis of the offer price. This separate offer has been accepted by holders of 1.35m out of a total 1.4m warrants allotted and transferred to participants in the incentive programme.

Entain has decided to extend the acceptance period until April 1 to give the remaining Enlabs shareholders more time to accept the deal. This means the acquisition is expected to close around April 13. Entain has said it will not extend the acceptance period further.