Italian lottery operator GTECH said on Wednesday 14 banks have agreed to lend it up to $10.7 billion, in part to back its planned acquisition of U.S. slot machine maker International Game Technology. The financing will be via a senior bridge loan and will be available to GTECH for 15 months, after which the company is expected to issue bonds to refinance it.GTECH said in a statement that 45 percent of the loan would be denominated in euros and the rest in U.S. dollars.Part of the loan will be used to finance the acquisition of the U.S. company, and part to refinance GTECH's existing debt.GTECH will pay $4.7 billion in cash and shares for Las Vegas-based IGT and will also take on $1.7 billion of the U.S. firm's net debt. The total $6.4 billion deal value is above GTECH's own market capitalisation of $4.1 billion.
International Game Technology (IGT) is a global gaming company specializing in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of casino-style gaming equipment, systems technology, and game content across multiple platforms: land-based, online real-money and social gaming. Shares of IGT remained unchanged at $16.76. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $12.14 and as high as $21.20. On average, 8281790 shares of IGT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 913552.
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