National Lottery up for Sale
20/04/2009 15:27:20
Four of Camelot’s biggest shareholders are looking to sell out of the UK National Lottery worth a massive 20% stake in the company the shares are worth around £80 million. So as the National Lottery goes up for sale it has people wondering just who will buy in and become the leading force in one of the world's biggest lotteries. With an 80% share up for grabs it's a huge investment for one or many companies.
The shares belong to De La Rue – the banknote printer and Fujitsu – the Japanese Information technology group. The decision by the companies to offload their stakes follows similar moves by Cadbury – the chocolate makers – and Thales – the French aerospace company.
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UK National Lottery (UK) |
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UK National Lottery (Outside UK) |
The shares owned by the four companies in question would offer a prospective buyer a massive 80% stake in Camelot, the National Lottery company and details of the sale are expected to be discussed at the Camelot board meeting next month.
The situation has caused disquiet in Parliament due to Camelot’s commitment to fund a massive £2.2 billion share of the bill for hosting the 2012 Olympic Games in London. It is thought that the commitment is unlikely to be in double though as Camelot is ahead of schedule and has already raised £750 million through dedicated Olympics Lottery games through the UK National Lottery.
It does look as though the shares will go to either overseas lottery operators or private equity firms who have already expressed some interest in purchasing the initial 40% stake put up by Cadbury and Hales.
The 80% share would be valued at anything up to £350 million according to lottery insiders but the buyer would overall be screened by the National Lottery commission to ensure its suitability to run the UK National Lottery and UK arm of the Euromillions Lottery.
Royal Mail, who own the remaining 20% share of Camelot has expressed no plans as yet to sell their share buy surely after all of this they will be watching the situation very carefully.
Page Last Updated: 05/10/2011 14:53:57
