Member Article

HURST team advises on sale of Fastrak Retail (UK) to Canadian buyer

A company which designs and manufactures lottery ticket dispensers and other retail point-of-sale display products has been sold to a Canadian buyer.

Fastrak Retail (UK), which is based in Cheshire, has been acquired by Pollard Banknote.

Pollard has paid an initial consideration of £4m plus working capital adjustments, with potential earn-out payments due in the future.

Founded in 2000 by John Barrett and Steve Matthews, Fastrak employs 26 staff and has its offices, factory and warehouse in Macclesfield.

The £6m-turnover company is a leading provider of lottery ticket dispensers and play points.

It supplies a number of major international lotteries, including those in the UK and Ireland, and recently won a major contract for the Illinois state lottery.

Fastrak also supplies retail point-of-sale display products and services to global consumer brands.

Pollard, which is based in Winnipeg and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is a leading partner to more than 60 lotteries worldwide, providing instant ticket print products, licensed games and digital offerings.

Ben Bradley and Ian Dawson, of HURST Corporate Finance, and Liz Gallagher and James Hamilton of HURST’s tax team, advised Fastrak’s shareholders on the deal.

Tom Hall, Gabrielle Cummins and Miranda Foy of Pannone Corporate provided legal advice.

Ben Bradley said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to have advised Fastrak’s shareholders on the acquisition by Pollard Banknote.

“Fastrak has a fantastic history of entrepreneurship and innovation resulting in its market-leading lottery and retail point-of-sale display product offering.

“This acquisition is a great example of the interest being shown by international strategic buyers in strong UK businesses.”

Following the deal, John Barrett will continue as managing director alongside commercial director Mick Tooley, before moving into a consultancy role to focus on innovation and design for Fastrak and the Pollard group.

Steve Matthews will stay on in a design consultancy role.

John said: “Joining the Pollard group will strengthen Fastrak’s offering to the lottery market and will provide the support required to expand Fastrak to the next level.

“Additionally, it will help the business offering to expand its markets in Europe and the USA.

“Fastrak’s operations in the UK will be a great asset and stepping stone into Europe for the Pollard group and will add additional design and manufacturing resources as and when required.”

Doug Pollard, co-chief executive officer of Pollard, said: “We are thrilled with this acquisition of Fastrak and are confident it will deliver additional innovation and new international markets for our retail merchandising solutions.

“Fastrak, working alongside our existing operations of Schafer Systems, will provide a global approach to providing state-of-the-art retail and merchandising solutions to lotteries across the world.

“Leveraging the best ideas of both organisations will ensure the best marketing concepts are delivered to each and every lottery organisation.

“In addition, working together with Pollard’s instant ticket resources and other areas of our business will allow Fastrak to benefit from this expertise in helping to develop new and exciting lottery retail solutions.”

John Pollard, co-chief executive of Pollard, said: “This acquisition continues Pollard Banknote’s commitment to grow our organisation both organically and through acquisitions to expand our leadership role as partner of choice in the lottery and charitable gaming sectors.

“We are very pleased that Fastrak has joined our team and look forward to helping them expand the business.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by HURST .