Scientific Games wants to raise $352M in social games IPO

Scientific Games is seeking to raise as much as $352 million in an initial public offering of its social gaming unit to help pay down debt.

The Las Vegas-based maker of slots and lottery machines is selling 22 million shares of SciPlay Corp at between $14 and $16 each, the company said in a statement Monday. The shares will be listed on NASDAQ.

Scientific Games has the option of selling an additional 3.3 million shares in the social division unit, which could raise an additional $53 million.

SciPlay said it expects to post a profit between $13 million and $15 million for the first quarter compared with a loss of $1.1 million in the same period last year, according to preliminary numbers published Monday.

The unit’s first quarter revenue will rise to between $117 million and $119 million compared with $97.5 in the same period last year, an increase of as much as 22 percent.

Scientific Games will use some of the money to pay down debt, which stood at about $9 billion as of Dec. 31.

Scientific Games is forecast to generate about $1.3 billion in operating cash flow this year, giving it a leverage ratio of more than 6 times, one of the highest in the industry.

Shares of Scientific Games rose 8 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $22.76.

Contact Todd Prince at 702-383-0386 or tprince@reviewjournal.com. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.