Davy Earns EUR 1.4 Million From Lottery Privatization Deal
Brendan HowlinDavy stockbroker will acquire EUR 1.4 million for advising the Irish government on the National Lottery privatization agreement.
The new owner of the lottery will be Premier Lotteries Ireland, which will start running it later in 2014. The company agreed on the EUR 405 million privatization deal last October. Davy was selected to advise the Government on the sale process the same month.
Brendan Howlin, Minister of Public Sector Expenditure and Reform commented on the arrangement that made it into the gambling news: “It (the fee) was in the order of EUR 1.4 million, I think it was, and when you see that the sale price that we got was EUR 405 million, to do that well was important.”
Additionally he stressed on Davy’s role: “It was a successful use of the skills base to supplement the internal departmental skills base that we have.”
It is interesting to mention that the winning bid was twice the size of the second highest offer, as well as way above the EUR 250-350 million forecasts.
The deal is planned to be closed this year
The contract signing between the Government and the buyer – a consortium of the UK operator Camelot and An Post, as well as the first installment payment were delayed, but the deal signing is still expected in the following weeks.
National Lottery’s staff is suspected to be the major reason for the delay, as they are public sector employees who have a right to permanent jobs. Therefore, the unions which are representing them are using different smart strategies to make sure they don’t lose their positions.
