A betr offer – Rival remains determined to fight for PointsBet

Betr remains adamant that its current bid for PointsBet is superior to that of rival MIXI and has confirmed that it will use its 19.9 per cent stake in the takeover target to oppose the acquisition at next week’s shareholder meeting.

PointsBet’s board confirmed on Monday it had rejected the cash and scrip offer put forward by betr and would proceed with the improved $400 million all-cash offer from MIXI, which values the company at $1.20 per share.

It said after its period of due diligence with betr, it harboured concerns over the value of the cost synergies identified, the likelihood of revenue impacts across a combined entity and integration and implementation challenges.

But betr’s chief executive Andrew Menz has hit back against those assertions, insisting betr’s offer would create $1.33 of value per share, which would be superior to PointsBet.

“We categorically reject PointsBet’s characterisation of our cost synergy projections as being ‘materially overstated’. Our team has deep experience in this field and our unparalleled track record speaks for itself,” Menz said.

“Having completed detailed bottom-up analysis, our confidence in the benefits of the betr proposal for PointsBet shareholders has only increased. We are highly confident in our ability to deliver the integration and to create $1.33 of value for PointsBet shareholders that elect and receive consideration in line with the funding mix – far exceeding the $1.20 offered by MIXI.”

Betr confirmed that as the largest shareholder in PointsBet, it intends to vote against the MIXI proposal at the upcoming meeting on June 25.

It also said that based on its unsolicited interactions, it is aware that several other PointsBet shareholders have shown “significant support for the betr proposal”, and that the MIXI proposal was likely to fail when it went to a shareholder vote.

Under the terms of the vote, a requisite majority must be achieved at the scheme meeting. This represents approval of at least 50 per cent of shareholders by numbers and 75 per cent of shareholders by value.

MIXI in box seat as PointsBet rebuffs betr again

Japanese-based MIXI looks set to win the battle for PointsBet after a counteroffer from betr was rejected by the PointsBet board.

The StraightBren O’Brien

However, MIXI has indicated that should its bid fail, it would subsequently make an equivalent off-market offer which would secure PointsBet.

A MIXI acquisition would give the Japanese publicly listed company, which has a small presence in Australia through BetM, a 5 per cent share of the Australian betting market.

A successful Betr buyout would give that company a better than 10 per cent share in Australia, and establish it as the fourth big player in the local market.