MILAN-- GTECH SpA, an Italian lottery company, Monday said it
had begun preliminary talks to acquire International Game
Technology, a Las Vegas-based gaming company.
GTECH said it "doesn't anticipate" a capital increase would be
necessary to fund the acquisition, and instead it would potentially
use a mix of existing cash and equity. There is no assurance an
accord will be reached, GTECH said in a statement.
With a market value of $3.92 billion, or EUR2.9 billion, IGT
would be a massive acquisition for GTECH, which has a
capitalization of EUR3.34 billion.
Carlyle Group, the private-equity firm, is also in early-stage
talks with IGT about buying the U.S. company, according to a person
familiar with the discussions.
Reuters reported Friday that GTECH and Carlyle are flanked by
several other entities jockeying to buy IGT, which has hired Morgan
Stanley to help manage the expressions of interest. Billionaire Ron
Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings and private-equity firm
Apollo Global Management are also interested in buying IGT, Reuters
said without citing sources.
"IGT regularly considers, and on occasion explores, a broad
range of strategic alternatives, including but not limited to
business combinations," IGT said in a statement Monday. "The IGT
board of directors and senior management are currently engaged in
such an exploration."
IGT made no mention of GTECH, MacAndrews & Forbes or the
private-equity funds in its release. MacAndrews & Forbes and
Apollo declined to comment.
GTECH shares fell 2.4% to EUR19.18 in Milan trading. IGT was
little-changed after rising 11% on Friday.
Write to Eric Sylvers at eric.sylvers@wsj.com
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