Sazka freezes plans to enter London Stock Market

Sazka, the lottery operator based in Czech Republic, has shelved the plans for a London stock market flotation.

Sazka had planned to list in the capital as part of a major assault on the UK lottery market. But the company was forced to freeze the plans mainly because of market volatility.

“Sazka Group has put its IPO plans for the London listing on hold for the time being due to a number of uncertainties, including those caused by the volatile market environment,” the company said in an emailed statement to PA.

It comes in the same week that two high profile flotations – that of Aston Martin and Funding Circle – have faltered in their first days of trading.

Sazka hired Citigroup, JP Morgan Cazenove and Morgan Stanley last year to work on the IPO.

Sources said the firm had hoped to use a London listing as a launch pad to challenge Camelot for the UK’s National Lottery licence, which will change hands in 2023. It is unclear whether those plans will now go ahead. The Gambling Commission will begin the preparing the groundwork for interested parties to bid for the licence next year.

“A revival of our IPO plans is contemplated once market conditions have improved and there is greater clarity over these and other uncertainties,” Sazka added.

Owned by Czech investors Karel Komarek’s KKCG group and Jiri Smejc’s EMMA Capital, Sazka is one Europe’s largest gaming groups. It raked in revenue of EUR1.13 billion in 2017, while earnings rose to EUR353.4 million.

Source: 5StarMedia