The multi-national lottery operator Allwyn Group announced it had entered into an agreement for a senior facility loan of EUR1.6bn ($1.66bn/PS1.39bn).
Lenders are committed to financing Allwyn in several categories. EUR441m will be in the form of amortizing term loans, due 2027. Another EUR441m of total will come in the form of bullet term loans. These are debts where most of the payments occur towards the maturity of the contract, which is due in 2028.
The EUR300m in the revolving facility will mature in 2027, while PS380m (436.8m EUR) is in an all-purpose facility that can be used as a guarantee or for term loans due to maturity in 2027.
Sazka, the operator that used to be known as Sazka, said it intended to use proceeds from the funding in three main ways.
The money will be used to refinance its existing debts, including a EUR623m syndicated debt, a PS380m facility for bank guarantees, and EUR300m in other debts. It also plans to use it to finance the upfront costs of the UK’s 4th National Lottery license, and to cover general corporate expenses such as shareholder payments or funding possible acquisitions.
Allwyn-Camelot purchase talks
Allwyn, which did not specify any targets that might be the target of this financing, confirmed in October it had “advanced discussions” with Camelot UK. Camelot UK was the former holder for the UK National Lottery license.
Kenneth Morton, Allwyn’s CFO said: “I was very happy with the interest the transaction attracted despite the difficult capital markets environment. All our existing banks increased their commitments. We are also pleased to welcome new lenders in our banking group.”
This financing extends the maturity of our company, gives us a flexible solution to finance the upfront costs for the UK National Lottery license and provides additional liquidity that will support future growth and stability.
This transaction, which follows our successful EUR600m bond issuance earlier this year, is further proof of Allwyn’s credit strength – demonstrated by the continued success of our financial performance and our consistent execution of our inorganic and organic growth strategies.”
Four UK National Lottery license
Allwyn officially received the UK National Lottery license in September. This ended Camelot’s 28 year tenure as operator. Since 1994, the operator has run the UK National Lottery.
This news follows the Gambling Commission’s announcement in March, that Allwyn had been chosen as its preferred license applicant, over Camelot and the New Lottery Company. Camelot had initially filed a lawsuit against the ruling, but later dropped it. This delayed the official awarding.
