Canada's Brookfield to buy Scientific Games' lottery business for $6.05 billion (updated)

Brookfield Business Partners LP

28/10/2021 24:58

(Adds details on the deal, Brookfield statement, background)
    Oct 27 (Reuters) - Scientific Games Corp  SGMS.O , a U.S.
maker of slot machines, said on Wednesday that Canadian
investment company Brookfield Business Partners  BBU_u.TO , will
buy its lottery business for $6.05 billion.
    The deal will consist of $5.825 billion in cash and an
additional payment of up to $225 million based on achievement of
certain profitability goals in 2022 and 2023. It is expected to
close in the second quarter of next year, Scientific Games said.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nNDL51BrlV
    With demand for online game surging during the pandemic, Las
Vegas-based Scientific Games had earlier announced a plan to
divest its lottery and sports-betting businesses to focus on
gaming and digital content provider.
    According to its website, it handles lottery games in more
than 50 countries. The lottery business has also attracted
interest from private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc,
a Bloomberg report said.
    Brookfield said the deal for the lottery business will be
funded with about $2.6 billion of equity, of which 30% will be
raised through existing funds and the rest from its
institutional partners.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNX9pfFPL
    Last month, Reuters reported that Scientific Games is also
seeking to list its predominantly North American and European
lotteries unit in Australia in a $5 billion IPO.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2QI2DG
    The company had in September also sold its sports betting
business OpenBet to Endeavor Group Holdings Inc  EDR.N , the
owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship for $1.2 billion in
cash and stock.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2QT3HR

 (Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru;
Editing by Arun Koyyur)
 ((Maria.Ponnezhath@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8061822749;))