Scientific Games takeover of Bally could be in trouble
News on 28 Oct 2014
News on 28 Oct 2014
The proposed acquisition of Bally Technologies by Scientific Games could be in trouble following reports Monday that JPMorgan Chase & Co. put off syndicating $3.19 billion of loans to help finance the purchase.
The news that JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG – hired by SG to sell the bridge loan – had failed to generate the necessary interest from investors by the October 3 deadline caused a drop of over 7 percent in the Scientific Games share price.
However, the banks reported a fall-back position, revealing that they have already successfully marketed about $2 billion in separate loans backing the acquisition.
Bloomberg business news observed that marketing the loans was hampered as yields on junk debt rose to their highest levels in a year.
In August this year Scientific Games announced its agreement to acquire all of the outstanding Bally common stock for $83.30 in cash per share for a total of $5.1 billion (see previous reports).
