Gilbert + Tobin has advised Ardent Leisure Group (ASX:ALG) on its A$1.1 billion sale of Main Event to NASDAQ-listed company, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment.
Ardent Leisure Group (Ardent Leisure), one of Australia’s most successful leisure and entertainment groups, has together with its joint venture partner, New York-based RedBird Capital Partners, agreed to sell its US-based Main Event business to Dave & Buster’s Entertainment for approximately A$1.1 billion.
Ardent Leisure is the owner and operator of premium leisure assets including Dreamworld, WhiteWater World & SkyPoint theme parks and attractions. Founded in 1998, Dallas-based Main Event operates 50 centers in 17 states across the United States featuring state-of-the-art bowling, laser tag, hundreds of arcade games and virtual reality.
Corporate Advisory Partner Adam D’Andreti led the matter for G+T, together with senior lawyer Sean Meehan and graduate lawyer Nick Maunsell.
Speaking of the transaction, Adam said: “Ardent Leisure is a long-standing client of G+T and we are privileged to once again assist them on a significant corporate transaction. Given this involved the sale of a wholly US-based business (which happens to be Ardent’s main undertaking) to a US-listed purchaser, complex Australian and US legal and regulatory issues arose. We are proud to have assisted Ardent’s Board in navigating these and obtaining the outcome they did.”
G+T’s Corporate Advisory team, which boasts some of Australia’s leading M&A lawyers, has advised on many of Australia’s largest and most innovative transactions involving ASX-listed companies, including our continued role advising Virtus on its contested takeover involving CapVest and BGH, advising Afterpay on its $39 billion acquisition by Block, Inc (formerly Square, Inc), the largest public M+A deal in Australia’s history and the largest cross border fintech deal globally, advising Cardno on the sale of its Americas ESG and consulting divisions, advising MIRA on its $2.6 billion acquisition of BINGO Industries and advised the PowAR consortium – comprising Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), the Future Fund and AGL Energy – on its successful $3 billion acquisition of Tilt Renewables in partnership with Mercury NZ. The team is recognised in the leading legal directories, including being recognised as Band 1 for Corporate/M&A by Chambers Asia-Pacific 2022 and Tier 1 for M&A by IFLR1000 2021.
Completion of the transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including US antitrust approval and Ardent shareholder approval.