By Zoe Samios
PointsBet says Betr knocked itself out from voting against its plans to sell to Japanese entertainment giant Mixi, rejecting claims from its rival bookmaker that it was inappropriately excluded from the meeting.
The dispute, after PointsBet shareholders except Betr overwhelmingly voted in support of the Mixi transaction, is an escalation in a long-simmering stoush between the two ASX-listed wagering groups. Betr wants to buy PointsBet, but has been rejected by the board in favour of Mixi.
On Wednesday, the matter took a bizarre turn after Betr’s 19.9 per cent shareholding was not voted at a meeting to decide on the Mixi deal. Betr is demanding that the poll be restarted and has threatened to pursue legal action in the hope of blocking the deal from proceeding.
But PointsBet has accused one of Betr’s own executives of revoking its vote against the deal ahead of the close of the poll. It claims the executive logged into the scheme meeting virtually and revoked the vote.
“This person then did not lodge any votes for Betr at the scheme meeting,” it said in a statement. “As noted above, this explanation is consistent with the records of the scheme meeting maintained by PointsBet’s share registry.”
The assertion, which Betr denies, will pave the way for a dispute in the Federal Court on Thursday, where the proposal is scheduled to be heard.
Betr shares fell 5 per cent after Mixi secured enough votes to acquire PointsBet despite an early indication that the deal did not have enough support. The scheme required 75 per cent of shares in its favour to succeed.
PointsBet told shareholders that more than 95 per cent of those who voted supported the $1.20 all-cash offer. It means the scheme is approved and Betr cannot proceed with plans for its own off-market takeover bid.
Betr is run by chairman Matthew Tripp – one of the best-known operators in the local wagering industry – and has tried to thwart the takeover for months. The company has put two different takeover proposals to the market, but to date, PointsBet has seen Mixi’s offer as superior.
Betr’s stake had been considered enough to block the deal – PointsBet said as recently as Monday it expected Mixi’s scheme to be voted down.
But shareholders were left scratching their heads when PointsBet’s statement showed the scheme had passed. Betr’s shares were absent from the count, which was conducted by share registry group Computershare.
“It appears that the chair of the meeting has impermissibly excluded Betr’s vote against the Scheme and provided no basis for doing so,” Betr said in a statement to investors. “The company confirms it validly lodged its proxy vote against the scheme as recorded in the PointsBet announcement this morning. Betr did not, at any time, revoke that proxy.”
Shaun Weick, deputy portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management, said he was concerned about what had happened. The fund manager is a shareholder in Betr, and was invested in PointsBet until recently.
“The legal technicalities are one thing, but the question mark we have is whether the PointsBet board would be considered as acting in good faith, knowing that Betr were going to vote, and had voted, against the scheme as disclosed in the ASX announcement pre-market,” he said.
Betr has asked PointsBet to recount the votes and has threatened to challenge its exclusion at the hearing on Thursday. It says it still plans to take an off-market takeover proposal to PointsBet shareholders this week.
The public comments add fuel to a messy months-long fight over the future of PointsBet, which escalated last week when Betr accused the bookmaker of not acting in the interest of shareholders. PointsBet rejected that claim, and has previously accused Betr of misleading the market.
PointsBet launched in 2017 and has an online market share of about 5 per cent. It previously discussed a tie-up with Tripp in late 2022.
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