Betr Rejects MIXI’s Offer for PointsBet Shares

Betr Entertainment, one of PointsBet’s potential buyers, has reiterated its opposition to a rival takeover proposal by MIXI Australia. Betr, which owns a significant stake in PointsBet, previously leveraged its shareholding to block an earlier acquisition arrangement.

The Clash Continues

Betr, which has long expressed interest in acquiring PointsBet, a sportsbook with a presence in both Australia and Canada, has found this task to be increasingly harder. Despite offering approximately 4.2 of its own shares for each PointsBet share (implied value of AUD 1.35 per share) in an all-scrip agreement, Betr’s approaches have largely been shot down due to the speculative nature of its offer, allegedly overestimated synergy projections, and uncertainty.

Conversely, MIXI Australia, the local arm of the Japanese tech giant MIXI, has managed to sway PointsBet with its much more direct all-cash deal. On paper, MIXI’s deal seems to offer a lower value but PointsBet’s leaders have agreed that the amount of financial certainty it carries would be more than worth it.

Betr, which owns roughly 1/5 of PointsBet’s shares, previously leveraged its shareholding to block an earlier proposal by MIXI. Since then, however, MIXI has greatly expanded its PointsBet shareholding, greatly increasing its leverage.

Betr to Block MIXI’s AUD 1.30 Offer

MIXI recently raised the stakes, offering AUD 1.25 in cash per PointsBet share. The company said at the time that this offer was final, unless it increased its shareholding in PointsBet to over 50%.

Shortly after that, MIXI considered an AUD 1.30 price, should it acquire over 90% of PointsBet’s shares. In a First Supplementary Bidder’s Statement, however, Betr firmly rejected this acquisition offer, saying that it will not sell its shares and will therefore make reaching the 90% shareholding threshold impossible.

PointsBet Applauded Betr’s Improved Disclosure

In other news, PointsBet recently weighed in on Betr’s improved disclosure, acknowledging the latter company’s efforts to improve its proposal. This followed PointsBet’s earlier criticism of the deal, as the sportsbook operator insisted that Betr’s deal does not properly communicate certain risks and uncertainties.

Despite the praise, however, PointsBet encouraged its stakeholders to “take no action” regarding the Betr deal. At the same time, PointsBet reiterated its support for the MIXI takeover.