--- adds detail about stake building by Sagi and Odey ---
Gambling software company Playtech (LON:PTEC) is raising £250mln to bankroll its controversial £459mln takeover of online trading platform Plus500.
It said the placing of 29.05 million shares would enable it to fund the Plus500 deal as well as the potential acquisition of a mid-sized B2C broker over which TradeFX has a purchase option.
Playtech bought Trade FX earlier this year and announced the plan to buy Plus500 on June 1.
But a battle for Plus500 heated up on Thursday as it emerged that Playtech owner and Israeli tech billionaire Teddy Sagi has increased his stake in the firm to nearly 10%.
It makes it more unlikely that an opponent of the deal, hedge fund boss Crispin Odey, will be able to stop the takeover as more than 45% of Plus500's investors back it.
Odey, who himself is understood to have increased his stake in Plus500 to 19% last month, says Playtech is undervaluing the company.
In an accompanying trading update, Playtech said average daily run rate revenue in the second quarter was up more than a quarter over the same period in 2014.
TradeFX had continued to perform strongly with revenues to May 31 of $42.2mln against $24.5mln last time.
Playtech said it remained confident of strong growth in 2015 and beyond.
Chief executive Mor Weizer said: "Today's equity fundraising, in conjunction with new debt facilities, which we are in the process of securing, will improve the efficiency of Playtech's capital structure whilst maintaining the financial flexibility to pursue acquisitions in both gambling and financial trading."
Canaccord Genuity and UBS are joint book runners on the placing with Shore Capital as lead manager.
The group's biggest shareholder Brickington, which has a 33.6% stake, plans to buy a similar amount to maintain its share holding.
Sagi, who swooped in with a 400p per share takeover bid earlier this month after Plus500’s shares plunged in value, has increased his stake in the business to almost 10 per cent via Playtech, his gambling software company.
The move means just over 45 per cent of shareholders now back the sale, which Odey Asset Management, the hedge fund founded by Mr Odey, has said “materially undervalues” Plus500.
Odey is Plus500’s largest shareholder, with a 19 per cent stake; but a simple majority of shareholders, 50.1 per cent, is required for the deal to go ahead.