Press Release
K&L Gates is Advising ZEAL Network on Lotto24 Exchange Offer
Global law firm K&L Gates LLP is advising UK-based ZEAL Network SE (ZEAL) on the voluntary public takeover offer announced by ZEAL for Lotto24 AG (Lotto24), Hamburg, Germany, with a market capitalization of approximately EUR 320 million. The takeover is intended to be implemented by way of a cross-border share exchange offer, which would reunite the two companies after having been operated separately for six years.
The goal of the transaction is to create a digital lottery group with currently more than five million combined customers globally, current combined billings of about EUR 500 million, and a diverse international footprint. ZEAL has already secured irrevocable commitments to accept the offer from shareholders representing approximately 65% of Lotto24 shares.
ZEAL was founded in Germany in 1999 as an online lottery broker under the name Tipp24 AG and has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2005. In 2012, ZEAL spun off its German online lottery brokerage business and listed it on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as Lotto24 AG. Two years later, ZEAL transferred its corporate seat to London. K&L Gates advised on both transactions.
K&L Gates lawyers in Frankfurt, London, and Berlin are advising ZEAL on a broad range of areas relating to the exchange offer, including corporate, takeover, and capital markets law as well as antitrust/competition.
Frankfurt corporate and capital markets partner Boris Kläsener is leading the transaction, supported by Frankfurt finance and capital markets partner Dr. Bastian Bongertz; London corporate partners John Elgar and Tom Wallace and capital markets partner Philip Morgan; Berlin antitrust/competition partner Dr. Annette Mutschler-Siebert; Frankfurt financial services policy partner Dr. Christian Büche; Berlin antitrust/competition counsel Marion Baumann and associate Helene Gerhardt; Frankfurt corporate associate Daniel Erd and finance associate Dominik Pauly; and London corporate associate Heather McLoughlin and capital markets associate Kate Borowitz.
K&L Gates is a fully integrated global law firm with lawyers located across five continents. The firm represents leading multinational corporations, growth and middle-market companies, capital markets participants and entrepreneurs in every major industry group as well as public sector entities, educational institutions, philanthropic organizations and individuals.
