Spanish football sponsorship for Plus500

Plus500, the troubled financial CFD trader that Playtech recently agreed to acquire in a £459.6 million offer (see previous  report), has pushed ahead with its marketing programme, agreeing this week to a two-year extension of its football shirt sponsorship association with Atletico Madrid.

Playtech’s Plus500 deal remains under threat from the powerful London-based hedge fund Odey Asset Management, a major shareholder of 25 percent of the company which has been increasing its holding.

Odey claims that the Playtech offer is almost half the £862 million Plus500 was worth before the regulatory crisis at Plus500 – over inadequate anti-money laundering checks – blew up last month.

However, last week Playtech revealed that it had bought another 10.75 million shares in Plus500, equivalent to 9.36 percent of the company.

Allied with Plus500’s management, who speak for 35.6 percent of the company’s shares, that amounts to around 45 percent of the company….not far short of the 50.1 percent necessary under Israeli law to claim control and allow the acquisition to progress despite Odey opposition.

Playtech is presumably working on getting that 5 percent or more of additional support from the remaining shareholders.

Odey, a formidable £8.25 billion operation, remained opposed to the deal when we went to press this week, describing it as  “….an opportunistic bid exploiting current regulatory issues and risks.” However, the company has been buying Plus500 shares at around the £4 a share level, which in value is in the Playtech bid area.

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