The sale of Brazil’s state-owned instant win lottery operator LOTEX has stalled for a fifth time. The news was confirmed by BNDES, the country’s national development bank which is responsible for selling LOTEX. By way of an update, it announced that the window for bid proposals has been extended until May 9.
The extension has been granted, according to BNDES, to allow interested parties to have ‘more time’ to provide ‘clarified submissions of proposals, and documents required to participate in the tender process’.
At present, little is known with regards to which international firms will participate in the auction of LOTEX. Despite reported interest from IGT, Intralot and Scientific Games, BNDES chaotic handling of the tender has seen no international operator state its commitment to acquiring LOTEX.
In its latest media update, BNDES governance stated that it will disclose the names of investors that will be able to participate in its competition.
This April, CAIXA Federal the current operating firm and sole distributor of LOTEX products underlined the importance of selling the asset in 2019.
At present CAIXA seeks to raise BRL $100 billion (€22 billion) through a capital markets placement, as the state-owned lottery operator has been pressured to pay back its BRL $40 billion debt (€9 billion) owed to the Federal Government.
