{"id":156537,"date":"2020-11-24T13:43:15","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T21:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=156537"},"modified":"2020-11-24T14:39:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T22:39:45","slug":"great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/","title":{"rendered":"Burgundy Balking: Asset Manager Says Apollo Offer Undervalues Great Canadian Gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s takeover drama north of the border. Burgundy Asset Management says it has no plans to vote in favor of Apollo Global Management’s (NYSE:APO) $2.5 billion takeover offer for Great Canadian Gaming Corp. (GCGC).<\/p>\n

\"Great
Great Canadian Gaming’s Casino Woodbine in Ontario seen here. Investors say Apollo’s takeover for the operator is too small. (Image: Toronto Star<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Private equity behemoth Apollo revealed its acquisition plans for the gaming company on Nov. 11, valuing the casino operator at C$39 a share. That’s a 35 percent premium<\/a> to its closing price on that day.<\/p>\n

That’s a tidy multiple, particularly in the coronavirus environment that’s depressing prices on gaming assets. However, Burgundy reportedly doesn’t see things that way and views the private equity firm as playing the part of opportunist in its quest for Great Canadian.<\/p>\n

We believe Great Canadian\u2019s Ontario assets are irreplaceable properties for which Apollo\u2019s C$39 offer reflects only a fraction of their potential value,\u201d Burgundy portfolio managers David Vanderwood and Andrew Iu wrote in a letter obtained by Bloomberg<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The money manager’s view on the matter is relevant because it controls 9.5 percent of Great Canadian\u2019s equity outstanding, making it the gaming company’s third-largest investor.<\/p>\n

The Toronto-based asset manager plans to hold onto shares in the casino operator and vote against the Apollo offer. A call to Burgundy by Casino.org<\/i> wasn’t returned prior to publication of this article<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Canadian Soap Opera Brewing<\/h2>\n

Founded in 1982, GCGC operates 25 casinos and pari-mutuel establishments spanning from Canada’s Atlantic Coast to British Colombia.<\/p>\n

According to the letter referenced in the Bloomberg<\/i> article, Burgundy believes Apollo is exploiting the weakness in GCGC’s Ontario operations.<\/p>\n

\n

The action by Apollo was forced by the pandemic to \u201copportunistically approach the company with an underwhelming, unsolicited bid.\u201d However, the shareholder sees the operator’s COVID-19 risk as tolerable, and that its properties on both Canadian coasts \u201cprovide a reliable valuation floor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Adding to the headwinds Apollo faces to bring this deal across the finish line is the fact that GCGC’s two largest investors — fund managers BloombergSen and CI Financial — apparently have the same feelings as Burgundy.<\/p>\n

BloomberSen, a Toronto-based hedge fund, controls 14 percent of GCGC equity. It immediately criticized Apollo’s offer, with co-founder Sanjay Sen calling it \u201ca terrible and ridiculous deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madison Avenue Partners and Breach Inlet Capital, two US-based investment firms with smaller GCGC stakes, also said they plan to vote against the Apollo proposal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Apollo Diligently Trying for Gaming Assets<\/h2>\n

There’s no denying Apollo is on the prowl this year for gaming assets. After losing out to Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) in an effort to acquire sportsbook operator William Hill, it’s rumored the private equity firm is waiting for Caesars to complete that transaction and sell the acquired firm’s<\/a> European business.<\/p>\n

Apollo has a deep history with the casino business. In 2006, it partnered with Texas Pacific Group (TPG) to acquire Harrah’s Entertainment, which would eventually become Caesars, for $27.8 billion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That deal later proved to be a burden during the global financial crisis and several years later, as \u201cold Caesars\u201d filed for bankruptcy protection. Apollo and TPG liquidated their Caesars stakes in March 2019, three months before Eldorado Resorts offered $17.3 billion for the gaming company.<\/p>\n

As for GCGC, there’s no word yet as to whether the suitor will up its offer. But the saga is the latest instance of buyers having difficulty sealing transactions with Canadian gaming firms<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s takeover drama north of the border. Burgundy Asset Management says it has no plans to vote in favor of Apollo Global Management’s (NYSE:APO) $2.5 billion takeover offer for Great Canadian Gaming Corp. (GCGC). Private equity behemoth Apollo revealed its acquisition plans for the gaming company on Nov. 11, valuing the casino operator at C$39 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":156538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,32093],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGreat Canadian Investors Scoffs at Apollo Takeover Offer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More Great Canadian Gaming investors are saying Apollo Global's takeover offer is opportunistic and too small.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Great Canadian Investors Scoffs at Apollo Takeover Offer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More Great Canadian Gaming investors are saying Apollo Global's takeover offer is opportunistic and too small.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-24T21:43:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-24T22:39:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/woodbine.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/\",\"name\":\"Great Canadian Investors Scoffs at Apollo Takeover Offer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/woodbine.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-24T21:43:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-24T22:39:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"More Great Canadian Gaming investors are saying Apollo Global's takeover offer is opportunistic and too small.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/woodbine.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/woodbine.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"Great Canadian Gaming's Casino Woodbine in Ontario. Investors say Apollo's takeover for the operator is too small. (Image: Toronto Star)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mergers and Acquisitions\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mergers-and-acquisitions\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Burgundy Balking: Asset Manager Says Apollo Offer Undervalues Great Canadian Gaming\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Great Canadian Investors Scoffs at Apollo Takeover Offer","description":"More Great Canadian Gaming investors are saying Apollo Global's takeover offer is opportunistic and too small.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Great Canadian Investors Scoffs at Apollo Takeover Offer","og_description":"More Great Canadian Gaming investors are saying Apollo Global's takeover offer is opportunistic and too small.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-11-24T21:43:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-11-24T22:39:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/woodbine.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/","name":"Great Canadian Investors Scoffs at Apollo Takeover Offer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/woodbine.jpg","datePublished":"2020-11-24T21:43:15+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-24T22:39:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"More Great Canadian Gaming investors are saying Apollo Global's takeover offer is opportunistic and too small.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/woodbine.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/woodbine.jpg","width":1280,"height":1024,"caption":"Great Canadian Gaming's Casino Woodbine in Ontario. Investors say Apollo's takeover for the operator is too small. (Image: Toronto Star)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/great-canadian-investors-scoffs-at-apollo-takeover-offer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mergers and Acquisitions","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mergers-and-acquisitions\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Burgundy Balking: Asset Manager Says Apollo Offer Undervalues Great Canadian Gaming"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}