The board of Bally’s Intralot SA has entered the final stages of the firm’s acquisition of Evoke PLC after securing £262m (€310m) in new senior secured notes.
The tranche of new debt has been secured by private investors from the Athens ATHEX-listed gambling group, as it finalises the deal for Evoke.
Markets were informed that “the new term financing will be drawn in two term loan tranches with a tenor of three years and is guaranteed and secured on a senior basis by members of the Bally’s Intralot Group in line with the Group’s existing senior secured financing arrangements”.
Proceeds generated from the debt financing agreement will be primarily used to complete the acquisition of Evoke Plc and its related assets – a deal agreed on 4 June for a transactional value of £243m (€250m).
Upon completing the takeover of Evoke, Bally’s Interactive will enter a new debt repayment arrangement with bondholders to exercise a combined debt of circa €2.8bn.
Deal negotiations saw Bally’s Intralot secure a private credit line of £900m, backed by TPG Credit, Oaktree Capital Management and Oak Hill Advisors (OHA).
The credit-line will be used to facilitate the technical integration of Evoke’s primary brands of William Hill, 888 and Mr Green in which leadership has outlined securing phase one synergies of £180-to-£200m from tech applications, reduced marketing costs, lower capital expenditures and operating costs.
In addition to securing new debt notes, markets were informed that Deutsche Bank has agreed to purchase 1.42 million new Bally’s Intralot shares for a total of €1.55m, paying an average price of €1.09 per share.
The transaction forms part of a Total Return Equity Swap (TRS) agreed with the investment bank.
Deutsche Bank stated that it does not consider its transaction to be a “strategic investment”, as the shares will be transferred to Bally’s Intralot upon settlement of the agreement and held as treasury shares.
At present, primary investors of Evoke Plc will vote on Bally’s Intralot acquisition on 17 August 2026. Subject to final approvals, Evoke will inform the London Stock Exchange (LSE) of its corporate delisting – a move that will leave the LSE with just three listed gambling companies: Entain, Playtech and Rank Group Plc.
Comprising the brands of William Hill, 888, Mr Green, Gamesys, JackpotJoy, Botemania and Intralot lottery, Bally’s Intralot will enter the Athens ATHEX as one of the top 20 highest valued PLCs in Greece.
Robeson Reeves, Bally’s Intralot Chief Executive Officer, previously told SBC News, that Athens will prove to be a better home for an enlarged Euro and Anglo gambling portfolio.
“Relevance is the most important thing for any stock. In Athens right now, we’re a top 20 stock on the Athens Stock Exchange. With this combination, we go into the Athens top- 10,” he said.
“We will be listed in a bigger pool of indexes and funds. That, in essence, has an enhancement on your multiples, which makes it very interesting and makes your paper more valuable, which is interesting.”
