Ainsworth Game Technology (AGT) has terminated its transaction implementation deed with Novomatic AG after the Austrian gaming group’s takeover offer for the company failed to become effective by the agreed deadline.
In an ASX filing, Ainsworth said the unconditional off-market takeover bid by Novomatic for all outstanding ordinary shares closed at 7pm Sydney time on February 6th, 2026. As the proposed scheme was not implemented by the end date and the offer subsequently lapsed, the company exercised its right to terminate the agreement with immediate effect.
Although final results have yet to be released, Novomatic’s last disclosed holding on January 29th stood at 66.59 percent, up from 52.9 percent at the start of the offer in August 2025, but still short of the 75 percent required to take Ainsworth private.
The failed bid unfolded against the backdrop of a competing off-market offer led by Ainsworth founder and major shareholder Kjerulf David Hastings Ainsworth, who had sought to consolidate family control and counter Novomatic’s takeover attempt.
Founded in Australia in 1995, Ainsworth Game Technology is a long-established supplier of gaming machines and related technologies, with operations across the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and Europe, and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Novomatic, headquartered in Austria, is one of the world’s largest gaming technology groups, operating casinos and gaming equipment businesses in more than 45 countries and supplying products to thousands of gaming venues worldwide.
