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Playtika finalizes pricing for initial public offering

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Social gaming giant Playtika has confirmed that its initial public offering (IPO) will see 69,500,000 shares sold to the public at a price of $27.00 per share, which could generate total proceeds of $1.88bn. 

The $27.00 per share price exceeds the expected range of between $22.00 and $24.00 set out in its registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

It also sees the tranche of shares sold by Playtika reduced, from an expected 21,700,000 shares to 18,518,500. This would net the business total proceeds of $500.0m. 

The business’ majority stockholder Alpha Frontier will sell a larger than anticipated tranche. 

Alpha Frontier will sell 50,981,500 shares of common stock, above the 47,800,000 set out in the registration statement. As before, the underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy an additional 10,425,000 shares at the IPO price. 

From the initial sale, Alpha Frontier – the holding company controlled by the consortium of investors that acquired Playtika in 2016 – stands to gain $1.38bn. This increases to $1.66bn if the over-allotment option is sold in full. 

The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market today (January 15), under the symbol PLTK. 

The offering is then expected to close on January 20, subject to customary closing conditions. 

Playtika first announced plans for its limited public offering in October last year, though it was not until December that its SEC registration statement was made public. 

This revealed that the business generated revenue of $1.80bn in the nine months to 30 September 2020, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation growing 41.2% to $665.8m.

While the business has expanded into a variety of different social genres, casino style games remain a key driver of growth, accounting for 57.4% of revenue over the period.