Playtech, the online gaming company which is now building its presence in the financial trading market, will purchase retail forex trading shop Plus500, for the price of approximately £459.6mln ($700mln).
The 400p per share takeover of the troubled company will allow Playtech to expand its online trading platform, after entering the industry by the acquisition of a majority stake in Trade FX. It is expected to be completed by the end of September, and may be followed by another acquisition: Playtech is said to be in talks to purchase currency trading platform AvaTrade.
Plus 500 is currently under pressure from money laundering rules, its market capitalization has become half less since May 18 when it announced freezing of some clients’ accounts while it conducted more rigorous checks. The company is headquartered in London but operating mostly in Israel; also, it is sponsoring Spanish soccer team Atletico Madrid.
