Evoke announced the results of its recent general meeting, saying that an overwhelming majority of shareholders have voted in favor of the previously announced acquisition by Bally’s Intralot. As a result, the deal has moved closer to completion, despite earlier concerns about Bally’s ability to maintain evoke.
The Acquisition Scheme Moves Forward
The arrangement was announced in June, with Bally’s Intralot putting forward some GBP 243.1 million (then $324.8 million) for the all-share acquisition. According to that announcement, the scheme would result in the creation of a global gaming and lottery champion with scaled pan-European B2C.
Now, evoke has published the results of its recent court meeting and general meeting, saying that shareholders have voted in favor of the arrangement. Per the company’s announcement, 96.77% of all shareholders, representing 268,206,379 of evoke’s shares, have agreed to greenlight the scheme during the court meeting. Only 3.32% of shareholders, responsible for 236,504 of evoke’s shares, disagreed with the agreement.
The general meeting yielded similar results, as those behind 99.63% of evoke’s shares (268,443,403) approved the implementation of the scheme, including the amendment of certain evoke articles.
For reference, the total number of evoke shares in issue at the Voting Record Time was 450,403,766.
The Deal Could Close by the End of the Year
With the voting now complete, some of the deal’s conditions have been satisfied, allowing it to move forward. The company added that a number of conditions relating to antitrust and regulatory approvals have also now been satisfied.
As a result, the two companies are now awaiting the Court to sanction the scheme. This is expected to happen in the final quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027. Depending on when this happens, the deal could close in the final quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027.
In any case, Moody’s Investors Service previously labelled evoke’s acquisition by Bally’s Intralot a positive development for the operator, saying the deal would ease refinancing pressure and improve liquidity conditions post-acquisition.