Undeterred by an order which restrains betr from putting its full bidder statement in front of PointsBet shareholders, the Matthew Tripp-led bookmaker has increased its offer for its rival substantially, valuing the company at close to $450 million, only to again be rebuffed.
The move to lift its all-scrip offer to what betr says is equivalent to $1.35 a share, led to a surge on PointsBet share price to $1.24 on Wednesday, having been pretty much flat at $1.20 in the two months since the earlier improved offer by MIXI.
However, MIXI continues to increase its interest in PointsBet, moving to 26.6 per cent on Thursday, having been at 11.7 per cent at the start of the week.
MIXI’s off-market offer, which values PointsBet at $1.20 a share, or around $400 million, opened last week and the Japanese outfit has built its interest to surpass betr (19.6 per cent) as the company’s main shareholder.
PointsBet’s board has repeatedly rebuffed betr’s entreaties, and it confirmed on Thursday afternoon it wouldn't be changing its position.
"The PointsBet Board continues to regard the Unsolicited Betr Scrip Offer as an inadequate outcome for PointsBet shareholders in the context of a scrip-based acquisition of PointsBet by Betr, given the previously announced risks it sees," PointsBet said.
It comes after PointsBet this week asked the Australian Government Takeovers Panel (AGPT) to intervene and restrain betr from putting forward its full bidder statement.
It said there were a number of disclosure issues with betr’s offer, which it claimed were “presented in a highly misleading and unbalanced way, and which fails to adequately explain the assumptions and sensitivity affecting value.”
It said the synergies put forward by betr as part of its valuation “contain material errors and are presented in a misleading, incomplete and unbalanced manner”.
There were several other claims put forward in its claim to AGTP, in what has become an increasingly bitter battle between the two Australian-owned bookmakers.
As a result, the AGTP put in interim orders stopping betr from presenting its bidder statement until the panel can rule formally, or two months, whichever comes first.
Bren O’Brien
But betr still had a card to play on Wednesday in what has become a quite dramatic corporate bunfight.
It upped its offer to 4.219 shares for every PointsBet share, which in its valuation gives shareholders $1.35 of value, more than 10 per cent higher than MIXI’s current offer.
“Betr continues to firmly believe in the combination rationale and that we can create material value for PointsBet and betr shareholders by integrating these two businesses, allowing us to profitably grow our share of the Australian wagering market,” its statement said,
“That upside is not available to PointsBet Shareholders under the inferior all-cash MIXI offer. PointsBet Shareholders should continue to take no action until both offers are open.
“Betr expects that the PointsBet Board will reconsider its recommendation that PointsBet shareholders accept the MIXI offer and will now recommend the betr offer.”
That last one point seems an unlikely occurrence given PointsBet’s ongoing disdain for the way betr has conducted its rival bid. It has also disputed the value of the previous all-scrip offer. Thursday was at least the third time the Board had rejected a betr offer.
But betr won’t be deterred. It is playing a numbers game, trying to prevent MIXI’s shareholding from getting to 50.1 per cent, at which point the game is up. With 19.6 per cent of the company itself, it remains confident it can win the war, despite the ongoing tit-for-tat battle.
The PointsBet process has been part of an acquisition and merger strategy, which has already combined betr with the BlueBet and the TopSport brands over the past 13 months.
The net effect of that is evident in its quarterly results released on Thursday, which has seen turnover increase from $153 million under the old BlueBet brand in 2024 to $400 million in the combined business.
Its net win grew from $17.3 million in the final three months of the standalone BlueBet business to $40.2 million in the last quarter, and to $147.8 million over the first 12 months of the new business. It has recorded an EBITDA positive figure of $7 million for the financial year, with 155,420 active customers. Betr’s full 2024/25 financial figures will be released next month.
Asked about the current state of the PointsBet bid in an earnings call on Thursday, betr CEO Andrew Menz added a little more context
“We've done exactly what we said we were going to do and that's how we've acted the whole way through our proposed acquisition of PointsBet,” he said.
“We've been consistent in what we've been saying and we've been backing that up with action so the shareholders that we've spoken to so far are not surprised at all given those statements that we've made that we would really look to increase that offer.”
The Straight News Desk
He described the intervention of the takeovers panel as a routine step in a hostile takeover.
“We're looking forward to the panel hearing the matter and for PointsBet shareholders being given the opportunity to make an election between our improved offers and that of Mixi's,” he said.
“Given the matter is in front of the panel now there's probably not a heap more that I can say at this time other than we will obviously endeavour to keep the market updated when things progress.”
