Blakes and McCarthy Tétrault advised on the deal
The casino and racetrack operator Penn National Gaming, Inc. has completed its US$2-billion acquisition of Toronto-based Score Media and Gaming Inc. (theScore).
Under the deal, the total purchase price of US$2 billion is payable in cash and stock. Following the closing of the transaction, current Penn National shareholders will hold 93 per cent of the company’s outstanding shares, while the remaining seven per cent will be held by theScore’s shareholders.
Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP acted as legal advisors to Penn National, along with Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. The Blakes team was led by Bryson Stokes, Geoffrey Belsher and Shlomi Feiner and assisted by David Bristow, Alex MacMillan, Jeffrey Shafer, Julie Soloway, Victoria Turner, Holly Reid, Lindsay McLeod, Sean Boyle, Alexandra Luchenko, Chris Hunter and Wendy Mee.
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McCarthy Tétrault represented theScore, with Robert Hansen leading the project and with the collaboration of David Woollcombe. Paul Weiss and Rifkind Wharton & Garrison also acted on the deal.
Penn National provides retail and online gaming, live racing and sports betting entertainment. The company is operating 50,000 gaming machines, 1,300 table games and 8,800 hotel rooms across the U.S. Its brand portfolio includes Hollywood, Ameristar and L’Auberge.
Canadian company, theScore, offers a fully integrated media and betting platform. Its mobile app delivers personalized live scores, sports news, statistics and betting information. According to Penn National, the acquisition will create a complete one-stop entertainment destination.
“We are thrilled to be acquiring theScore, which is the number one sports app in Canada and the third most popular sports app in all of North America,” said Jay Snowden, president and chief executive officer of Penn National.
“We are now uniquely positioned to seamlessly serve our customers with the most powerful ecosystem of sports, gaming and media in North America, ultimately creating a community that doesn’t currently exist. Users will enjoy a unique mobile sports betting and iCasino platform with highly customized bets and enhanced in-gaming wagering opportunities, along with highly engaging, personalized sports and entertainment content, and real time scores and stats. We believe this powerful new flywheel will result in best-in-class engagement and retention,” Snowden added.
Following the acquisition, Penn National intends to operate theScore as a stand-alone business, with headquarters in an expanded Toronto office.
