Ronald Perelman agrees sale of 39% stake in Scientific Games Corporation

American billionaire businessman Ronald Perelman (pictured) has reportedly agreed a deal that will see him offload his entire 39% stake in gaming machines behemoth Scientific Games Corporation to Australian investments firm Caledonia.

According to a report from the Bloomberg news service, the 77-year-old is responsible for the large shareholding through his MacAndrews and Forbes Holdings Limited investment vehicle and began investigating the possibility of a sale in July as part of a coronavirus-related reworking of his extensive investment portfolio.

Pricey procurement:

Bloomberg reported that Perelman now looks set to pocket approximately $920 million from the all-cash transaction with Sydney-headquartered Caledonia due to pay at least $25 for each share he holds in Scientific Games Corporation. The news service detailed that such an arrangement would represent an almost 32% premium on the substantial stake’s most recent market valuation of $698 million while additionally entitling the buyer to a pair of board seats.

Industry involvement:

Caledonia already holds substantial interests in technology firms such as Grubhub Incorporated and Zillow Group Incorporated and reportedly inked an agreement in November that took its shareholding in London-listed sportsbetting giant Flutter Entertainment up to around 10.4%. This latter enterprise was previously known as Paddy Power Betfair and is responsible for over 620 land-based betting shops spread across the United Kingdom as well as a diverse online portfolio that includes the domains at Betfair.com, PaddyPower.com and Adjarabet.com as well as daily fantasy sports operator FanDuel Group and iGaming vanguard The Stars Group Incorporated.

Formidable fortune:

For his part and Perelman’s other investments run to companies as diverse as cosmetics giant Revlon Incorporated and the entity behind the Humvee military transport vehicle, AM General. Recently listed as the 79th wealthiest person in the United States courtesy of a personal portfolio valued at around $7.8 billion, the North Carolina native reportedly made $37.3 million in July by offloading a pair of paintings by Joan Miro and Henri Matisse and has since authorized Sotheby’s to find buyers for additional works from his large collection worth hundreds of millions of dollars.