Kjerulf Ainsworth, a son of Ainsworth Game Technology founder Len Ainsworth, has increased his voting power in the Australian slot machine maker to 9.55 percent following a series of on-market share purchases and acceptances under his earlier proportional takeover offer.
According to a Form 604 filing, Ainsworth now has a relevant interest in 32,160,635 fully paid ordinary shares, up from 27,522,207 shares, or 8.17 percent, in his previous notice dated March 12th. The latest change in his holding occurred on June 2nd.
The filing shows that the largest single acquisition was made on June 2nd, when Ainsworth bought 2,083,000 shares on market at AU$1.60 ($1.14) per share. Other purchases were made from March to June at prices ranging from AU$1.05 ($0.75) to AU$1.60 ($1.14) per share.
The stake increase follows Ainsworth’s proportional off-market takeover offer, launched in March, to acquire 5.5 percent of each shareholder’s shares at AU$1.30 ($0.93) per share. The offer was unconditional.
Austrian gaming equipment group Novomatic remains Ainsworth Game Technology’s controlling shareholder. Its earlier takeover bid closed in February without reaching the 75 percent threshold needed to take the company private.
Ainsworth recently said it expected first-half revenue of about AU$116 million ($82.8 million), down 24 percent year-on-year, while profit before tax, excluding currency impacts and one-off items, was forecast at about AU$1 million ($713,954).
