Online gaming tech firm Playtech plc (LON:PTEC) has announced that it will be holding a shareholder vote on July 15 for the proposed sale of its financials division to Israeli businessman Zvika Barenboim’s Barenboim Group with backing from Leumi Partners Limited and Menora Mivtachim Insurance. The businesses being sold include the Finalto FX B2B operations (originally CFH Group and Alpha Capital Markets), and the Markets.com Retail FX brand.

Not surprisingly, Playtech announced that its Board considers the transaction to be in the best interests of Playtech and its shareholders as a whole. Accordingly, the Board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting.

As we reported when the Finalto/Markets.com sale was formally unveiled in late May (although it was originally reported exclusively by FNG back in January), the transaction took several months to complete following a breakdown in negotiations on price – not unusual, frankly, in the corporate M&A world. The deal, originally pricing at around $200 million, was finalized at about half that amount. Playtech still is trying to package the sale as a $210 million deal, the formal price tag for the businesses being sold. However, the company has agreed to include $109 million in cash with the acquired businesses, bringing the true value of the sale to $101 million.

It will be interesting to see if shareholders rubber stamp the deal – Playtech shareholders have mounted small revolts in the past, such as in rejecting Directors’ pay policy in a vote last year. The businesses being sold were acquired over the past number of years by Playtech for considerably more than $101 million (or $210 million, for that matter). Playtech paid a combined $270 million four years ago for CFH Group and Alpha Capital Markets, the B2B arms of its financials operation. Markets.com was acquired from then-controlling shareholder Teddy Sagi in a more complicated transaction, which cost Playtech between $225-$300 million.