{"id":210996,"date":"2022-04-27T11:12:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T18:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=210996"},"modified":"2022-04-27T13:04:19","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T20:04:19","slug":"aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/","title":{"rendered":"Aristocrat Leisure Likely to Consider Sizable Acquisitions, Says Fitch Ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apparently not chastened by the collapse of its attempted takeover of Playtech, Aristocrat Leisure is likely to remain a player in large-scale mergers and acquisitions, says Fitch Ratings.<\/p>\n

\"Aristocrat
Aristocrat Leisure’s Dune slot machine, seen in an unnamed casino, above. The company is likely to remain active in industry consolidation. (Image: YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last year, the Australian gaming device giant attempted to acquire Playtech for $2.84 billion. But that effort encountered headwinds, including competing bids from other suitors, and ultimately, Aristocrat’s inability to convince 75%<\/a> of Playtech investors to approve the deal. Undaunted, Aristocrat could again return to hunting for takeover targets.<\/p>\n

Fitch expects Aristocrat \u00a0to continue to pursue strategic M&A, particularly in the real-money gaming (RMG) sector, given its strong financial flexibility, solid portfolio of slot content, and its lapsed acquisition of Playtech (B2B online supplier),\u201d<\/strong> says the ratings agency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The research firm, which rates the gaming company \u201cBBB-,\u201c says the slot machine manufacturer\u2019s credit profile \u201chas headroom for M&A,\u201d and that acquisitions could be funded in that fashion owing to the company\u2019s strong credit position.<\/p>\n

Aristocrat Acquisitions Likely to Be Digital<\/h2>\n

Aristocrat is the leading supplier of slot machines in its home country, and is a top-three supplier in North America. It has a 20% market share in the US, and a higher percentage for premium gaming machines.<\/p>\n

With dominance in the land-based slot market established, it\u2019s likely that if Aristocrat pursues acquisition opportunities, it will be on the digital front. That was the allure of Playtech<\/a>, a gaming software company.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Data confirm Aristocrat\u2019s digital business is growing, and much of that growth is attributable to previous rounds of deal-making.<\/p>\n

\u201cAristocrat’s digital business has grown meaningfully through both M&A and heavy investments in new content,\u201d adds Fitch. \u201cAristocrat’s previous acquisitions of Plarium and Big Fish increased ALL’s digital business from 16% of total revenue in 2017 to 40% at YE 2019. Fitch believes there are limited synergies into Aristocrat’s land-based segment. But its Digital products provides healthy diversification to its core slot business (as evidenced during the pandemic).\u201d<\/p>\n

Potential Targets<\/h2>\n

Fitch doesn\u2019t speculate as to what companies could be on Aristocrat\u2019s shopping list in the wake of the collapsed Playtech bid, nor does the research firm ballpark possible price tags the suitor would consider.<\/p>\n

However, the Australian company has $933 million in excess cash reserved for the Playtech takeover, access to a $500 million credit revolver, and $2.87 billion in overall cash.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the $2 billion to $4 billion price range, Aristocrat could potentially get its hands on any number of technology makers for internet casinos<\/a>, web-based poker rooms, online sports wagering, and\u00a0gaming studious and social casinos.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree cash flow margin is also forecasted to remain robust, ranging from mid-to high-single digits percentage of revenue. Fitch expects a small amount of debt paydown relative to ALL’s excess cash balances, with additional allocation toward dividends and tuck-in M&A,\u201d concludes Fitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apparently not chastened by the collapse of its attempted takeover of Playtech, Aristocrat Leisure is likely to remain a player in large-scale mergers and acquisitions, says Fitch Ratings. Last year, the Australian gaming device giant attempted to acquire Playtech for $2.84 billion. But that effort encountered headwinds, including competing bids from other suitors, and ultimately, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":210998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,32093],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAristocrat Leisure Still Prowling For Acquisitions, Say Fitch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aristocrat Leisure likely to remain a player in gaming industry mergers and acquisitions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aristocrat Leisure Still Prowling For Acquisitions, Say Fitch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aristocrat Leisure likely to remain a player in gaming industry mergers and acquisitions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-27T18:12:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-27T20:04:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dune.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/\",\"name\":\"Aristocrat Leisure Still Prowling For Acquisitions, Say Fitch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dune.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-27T18:12:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-27T20:04:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Aristocrat Leisure likely to remain a player in gaming industry mergers and acquisitions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dune.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dune.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Aristocrat Leisure's Dune slot machine. The company is likely to remain active in industry consolidation. (Image: YouTube)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Aristocrat Leisure Likely to Consider Sizable Acquisitions, Says Fitch Ratings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Aristocrat Leisure Still Prowling For Acquisitions, Say Fitch","description":"Aristocrat Leisure likely to remain a player in gaming industry mergers and acquisitions.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Aristocrat Leisure Still Prowling For Acquisitions, Say Fitch","og_description":"Aristocrat Leisure likely to remain a player in gaming industry mergers and acquisitions.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-04-27T18:12:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-27T20:04:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dune.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/","name":"Aristocrat Leisure Still Prowling For Acquisitions, Say Fitch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dune.jpg","datePublished":"2022-04-27T18:12:38+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-27T20:04:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Aristocrat Leisure likely to remain a player in gaming industry mergers and acquisitions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dune.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dune.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Aristocrat Leisure's Dune slot machine. The company is likely to remain active in industry consolidation. (Image: YouTube)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/aristocrat-leisure-still-prowling-for-acquisitions-say-fitch\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Aristocrat Leisure Likely to Consider Sizable Acquisitions, Says Fitch Ratings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}