Item 8.01 Other Events.
On August 24, 2022, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Playtika Holding
Corp. (the “Company”) approved the
disclosure of certain information related to its previously
announced strategic alternative process in anticipation of
commencing a potential issuer self-tender offer (the “Offer”) to repurchase up to
$600 million in shares of common stock, par value $0.01, of
the Company (“Shares”) in the near future at a
fixed price based on a customary premium for issuer self-tender
offers. The size of the Offer to be repurchased, the price per
Share, and the timing of the Offer will depend on a variety of
factors, including market conditions, regulatory requirements, and
other corporate considerations. Furthermore, the Company may decide
not to commence the Offer and, if commenced, could amend or
terminate the Offer in accordance with applicable law and the terms
of the Offer.
In the fall of 2021, the Company’s controlling stockholder group,
Playtika Holding UK II Limited, Alpha Frontier Limited, Shanghai
Cibi Business Information Consultancy Co., Ltd., Shanghai Jukun
Network Technology Co., Ltd., Giant Network Group Co., Ltd., Giant
Investment Co., Ltd., Yuzhu Shi, Hazlet Global Limited, Equal Sino
Limited and Jing Shi (collectively, the “Giant/Alpha Group”) indicated to
the Company that it was interested in selling a portion of its
Shares. The Company agreed, at the direction of the Board, to
cooperate with the Giant/Alpha Group to seek to launch a secondary
offering to sell a portion of the Shares held by the Giant/Alpha
Group in the fourth quarter of 2021. The Company prepared and
confidentially submitted with the Securities and Exchange
Commission a registration statement; however, following the
Company’s 2021 third quarter earnings release, the Giant/Alpha
Group ultimately declined to proceed with the offering, based on
market conditions. Following that process, in late 2021, the
Giant/Alpha Group indicated to the Company that it was interested
in potentially exploring its options to sell a significant portion
of its Shares to address its liquidity needs arising from debt
maturities involving certain members of the Giant/Alpha Group.
On January 24, 2022, following further discussions between the
Company and the Giant/Alpha Group regarding the Giant/Alpha Group’s
potential interest in selling Shares, the Giant/Alpha Group and the
Company jointly announced the Giant/Alpha Group’s intent to explore
options to sell approximately 15-25% of the Company’s total
outstanding Shares. Following this announcement, the Company, at
the instruction of the Board, communicated to the Giant/Alpha Group
that, based on the market conditions, the current market price of
the Company’s Shares, in-bound interest regarding a potential
purchase of the Company received by Raine Securities LLC
(“Raine”), who at
the time was engaged as the Company’s financial advisor, and the
interest in seeking strategic alternatives in which all of the
Company’s stockholders could participate and benefit, the Company
intended to publicly announce its intention to review its strategic
alternatives to seek to maximize value for all stockholders, for
which the Giant/Alpha Group expressed support. On February 24,
2022, the Company publicly announced that the Board initiated a
process to evaluate strategic alternatives to maximize value for
stockholders, including evaluating a potential sale of the entire
Company or other possible transactions. After such Board approval,
the Company also instructed Raine to initiate an outreach process
to explore third-party interest in a potential strategic
transaction. On February 25, 2022, the Giant/Alpha Group
publicly disclosed its support of the Company initiating such a
process.
In light of the Giant/Alpha Group’s ongoing liquidity needs and the
Company’s announcement of its independent review of its strategic
alternatives, and the potential conflicts that could arise in
connection therewith, on March 4, 2022, the Board formed the
Special Committee of the Board (the “Special Committee”), comprised
of independent and disinterested directors, pursuant to a charter
granting the Special Committee authority to consider, investigate,
evaluate, analyze, negotiate, reject and make recommendations to
the Board to approve or reject, any definitive agreements,
arrangements, waivers or consents entered into or given by the
Company in connection with potential strategic alternatives
available to the Company, including a potential strategic
transaction that could result in a change of control of the
Company. The Special Committee’s charter also granted it authority
to determine not to pursue any transaction. After interviewing
several law firms and financial advisors, the Special Committee
retained Sidley Austin LLP (“Sidley”) and Richards,
Layton & Finger PA (“RLF”) as its legal counsel, and
Raine and Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (“Houlihan”) as its financial
advisors.
Following its formation, and after receiving advice from its legal
counsel, the members of the Special Committee confirmed that they
were independent and disinterested with respect to the strategic
alternatives review process. The Special Committee met over 40
times between its formation and August 24, 2022 in connection
with the strategic alternatives review process. Beginning in March
2022 and with the assistance of and guidance from its