Exploring Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) Investor Profile: Who’s Buying and Why?

You're looking at Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) and asking who was buying, but the real story is who was holding for the exit, which is a classic merger arbitrage play.

By the time the company was delisted on July 1, 2025, following its acquisition by Apollo Funds, institutional investors-the big money-held a massive 84.3% of the shares, positioning themselves for the cash-out at $14.25 per share. Think about that: firms like BlackRock, Inc. and Glazer Capital, LLC, who held roughly 6.99 million and 5.76 million shares respectively as of June 2025, weren't betting on a long-term growth story, but on the certainty of the deal closing. This focus on the sure thing made sense, especially with the company reporting trailing twelve-month (TTM) revenue of about $0.74 Billion USD in 2025, plus a Q1 2025 net income of only $3.92 million, showing a business that was profitable but perhaps better off as part of a larger, integrated gaming and FinTech powerhouse. So, the investor profile wasn't about a fundamental growth thesis; it was defintely about a near-term, high-probability liquidity event, which is why a staggering 99.88% of the votes cast were in favor of the merger.

Who Invests in Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) and Why?

You're looking at Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) at a fascinating, almost final, point in its public life, which means the investor profile is highly concentrated and the motivation is crystal clear: a cash-out merger. The key takeaway is that by mid-2025, the investor base was dominated by institutional players, particularly hedge funds engaged in a classic merger arbitrage strategy, all waiting for the $14.25 per share acquisition to close.

Key Investor Types: The Institutional Dominance

The shareholder breakdown for Everi Holdings Inc. in the 2025 fiscal year was overwhelmingly institutional. This is a common pattern when a public company is in the final stages of a definitive acquisition agreement. As of June 2025, institutional investors held approximately 91.9% of the shares outstanding. That's a huge concentration, and it means the stock's price movement was less about day-to-day business performance and more about the probability of the deal closing.

The three main groups of investors were:

• Passive Institutional Funds: Giants like BlackRock, Inc. (the largest holder with about 8.05% of shares, or 6,991,316 shares) and Vanguard Group Inc. These firms hold the stock because it's a component of major indices like the Russell 2000, which they track. Their investment is automatic, not strategic.
• Hedge Funds (Event-Driven): Funds like Glazer Capital, Llc and TIG Advisors, LLC are classic merger arbitrage players. They buy the stock once the deal is announced, aiming to capture the small spread between the trading price and the final cash-out price of $14.25.
• Retail Investors: This group held the remaining, smaller percentage of the float. Their motivation was a mix of long-term belief in the company's FinTech segment and, later, simply waiting for the final acquisition payment.

Investment Motivations: The Arbitrage Play

In the lead-up to the July 1, 2025, delisting, the core investment motivation shifted entirely from business fundamentals to deal mechanics. The primary driver was the announced acquisition by Apollo Funds, which offered Everi stockholders $14.25 per share in cash. Honestly, everything else was secondary.

Before the deal was certain, the original investment thesis was grounded in the company's dual business model:

• FinTech Strength: Everi's financial technology business, which provides cash access and payment solutions to casinos, was a major draw. This segment generated a high percentage of recurring revenue, offering stability.
• Growth Prospects: The company was a leader in the digital transformation of casino floors, showcasing innovations like the BeOn Pay2Game™ platform for direct bank-to-slot deposits.
• Value: Some long-term investors saw the stock as undervalued, especially given the recurring revenue stream, even as the TTM revenue for 2025 was around $0.74 Billion USD, a slight decrease from the prior year.

But by early 2025, that all collapsed into a single, time-sensitive trade: merger arbitrage. That's where the smart money was focused.

Investment Strategies: The Short-Term Cash-Out

The dominant strategy seen in Everi Holdings Inc. during its final public months was a short-term, low-risk strategy called merger arbitrage (or risk arbitrage). This strategy is simple, but precise.

Here's the quick math: If the stock was trading at, say, $14.00 per share, and the final cash-out price was $14.25, an arbitrageur would buy a large block of shares, locking in a potential return of about 1.8% ($0.25/$14.00). This return is realized in a matter of months, not years, so the annualized return can be attractive, but it all depends on the deal closing on time. You can learn more about the underlying business health that supported this valuation in Breaking Down Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

The strategies break down like this:

The risk here, what this estimate hides, is the deal breaking. If regulatory approvals delayed or killed the Apollo acquisition, the stock price would have plummeted back to its pre-announcement trading range, which was significantly lower than the $14.25 offer price. That's the 'risk' in risk arbitrage, but the high institutional approval vote of 99.88% of shares voted made that risk defintely small.

Institutional Ownership and Major Shareholders of Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI)

You need to understand that Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) was not a typical public company in 2025; its investor profile was completely defined by a massive, near-term event: the pending acquisition by Apollo Funds. This meant that the vast majority of shares were held by institutional players-a staggering 85.68% of the company's stock as of June 2025.

This high concentration is the first thing you notice. When institutional ownership is this dominant, the stock's movement and, more importantly, its strategic direction are largely controlled by a few very large entities. The total number of shares held by institutions reached 88,054,567 leading up to the July 1, 2025, delisting. Here is a look at the largest holders just before the deal closed:

BlackRock, Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are always big players, holding shares primarily through passively managed index funds. But look closer: the list is heavy with merger arbitrage funds like Glazer Capital, LLC and TIG Advisors, LLC. These funds are the real story here.

The Merger Arbitrage Play: Changes in Ownership

The institutional investor landscape for Everi Holdings Inc. saw a fundamental, though quiet, shift in the months leading up to the July 1, 2025, acquisition. You see the overall percentage holding steady at 85.68% in June 2025, but the type of investor changed dramatically.

Long-term growth investors and value funds were selling out, replaced by event-driven funds. This is classic merger arbitrage-buying the stock after the acquisition is announced, knowing the price is locked in at the offer of $14.25 per share, and holding until the deal closes to capture the small, low-risk difference between the market price and the final cash-out price. The trade is simple: buy the stock, wait for the cash.

• Arbitrage funds bought aggressively after the July 2024 deal announcement.
• They were holding for the guaranteed $14.25 cash payment.
• The goal was a short-term, high-certainty return, not long-term growth.

This influx of arbitrage capital explains why the stock price remained tightly anchored to the $14.25 offer price. The market essentially stopped valuing the company's fundamentals and started pricing the probability of the deal closing. It was a defintely a short-term holding game.

Impact of Institutional Investors: The Final Decision

The role of these large institutional investors in Everi Holdings Inc.'s final chapter was not about influencing management's day-to-day strategy, but about ensuring the acquisition closed. Their collective stake of over 85% gave them decisive voting power.

The ultimate impact was the overwhelming approval of the merger with Apollo Funds. When the stockholders voted on the deal in November 2024, approximately 99.88% of the shares voted were cast in favor of the merger. This near-unanimous vote, driven by the institutional base, sealed the company's fate.

The institutional investors, especially the arbitrageurs, played the critical role of a clean-up crew, ensuring the transaction was completed so they could receive their cash-out of $14.25 per share. The result: Everi Holdings Inc. was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange effective July 1, 2025, as it became part of a new, privately owned combined enterprise. For more on the strategic rationale behind the new entity, you can review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI).

What this estimate hides, of course, is the long-term strategic loss of a major independent FinTech player in the gaming space; the short-term cash gain for shareholders was the final action. Your takeaway is clear: in a merger scenario, the investor profile quickly becomes a technical play, not a fundamental one.

Key Investors and Their Impact on Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI)

You need to understand the Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) investor profile not as a snapshot of a publicly traded company, but as a final ledger for a successful merger arbitrage play. The ultimate buyer was Apollo Funds, who took the company private on July 1, 2025, paying shareholders $14.25 per share in cash. This single event is the key to understanding who was holding the stock in 2025 and why.

The investor base in the first half of 2025 was dominated by two types of institutional money: passive giants and sharp-elbowed event-driven funds. The passive funds, like BlackRock, Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc., held large stakes because Everi Holdings Inc. was a component of various index funds (like the iShares Russell 2000 ETF). Their holdings are a function of the index, not a specific, active bet on the company's growth.

The real action, and the most telling investor behavior, came from the event-driven funds. These are the merger arbitrageurs who buy shares after a deal is announced, aiming to profit from the small gap (the spread) between the stock price and the final cash offer price. This is a low-risk, defined-return strategy. Glazer Capital, LLC and TIG Advisors, LLC were prominent players here, holding some of the largest stakes in the company as of June 29, 2025.

• BlackRock, Inc.: Largest single holder with 8.05% of shares, totaling 6,991,316 shares.
• Glazer Capital, LLC: A key event-driven fund holding 6.63%, or 5,760,076 shares.
• The Vanguard Group, Inc.: Held 5.75% of shares, totaling 4,993,272 shares, mostly through passive index funds.

Investor Influence: The Merger Arbitrage Catalyst

In a situation like this, the influence of these large investors shifts from pushing for operational changes to ensuring the deal closes smoothly. The biggest impact came from the combined shareholder base approving the merger with Apollo Funds. On November 14, 2024, Everi Holdings Inc. stockholders overwhelmingly approved the transaction, with approximately 99.88% of the shares voted cast in favor of the merger. That is a defintely strong mandate.

The presence of major merger arbitrage funds like Glazer Capital, LLC and Alpine Associates Management Inc. signaled to the market that the deal was highly likely to close. Their entire investment thesis was predicated on collecting the $14.25 per share cash payment, which meant they were a powerful force in favor of the acquisition. Their buying activity helped keep the stock price close to the offer price, effectively managing the risk for other investors.

Recent Moves: Cashing Out at $14.25

The most recent and final move was the delisting on July 1, 2025, following the acquisition by Apollo Funds. All shareholders, including the institutional giants and the merger arbitrage funds, converted their common stock into the right to receive $14.25 in cash per share. This was the final, concrete return on investment for the company's public equity holders.

Here's the quick math on the top holders' payout: Glazer Capital, LLC's 5,760,076 shares translated to a cash payout of over $82 million. BlackRock, Inc.'s position was worth over $99.5 million at the deal price. The merger was the ultimate exit strategy for these investors, simplifying a complex gaming and FinTech business into a clear cash return. If you want to dive deeper into the company's operational side that made it an attractive target, you can check out Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

It is also worth noting the insider activity in the lead-up to the closing. Several insiders, including executives like Todd A. Valli, sold shares in early 2025. For example, on April 21, 2025, Todd A. Valli sold 30,000 shares for a total of $412,500. This pattern of insider selling is typical before a merger, often tied to pre-arranged trading plans (10b5-1 plans) to exercise expiring options and monetize equity stakes before the company goes private.

Market Impact and Investor Sentiment

The investor profile for Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) fundamentally shifted in 2025, moving from a growth-oriented, publicly-traded company to a classic merger arbitrage play. The final sentiment of major shareholders was overwhelmingly positive toward the acquisition by Apollo Funds, not the long-term equity story. They voted for a cash exit.

In November 2024, Everi Holdings Inc. stockholders approved the merger with approximately 99.88% of the shares voted in favor, representing a clear mandate to take the cash-out offer. Institutional investors, who collectively owned about 95.47% of the outstanding shares in late 2024, had essentially pre-approved the deal by holding their positions or accumulating shares to capture the spread (the difference between the trading price and the offer price). This high institutional ownership meant the decision was defintely in the hands of sophisticated funds like Glazer Capital LLC and Alpine Associates Management Inc., who expanded their holdings earlier in the fiscal year.

This is what happens when a deal is certain: the focus moves from the company's operating performance to the closing date. You can see Everi Holdings Inc.'s commitment to its long-term strategy, which underpinned its value, in its Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI).

Recent Market Reactions and the Cash-Out

The most significant market reaction in the 2025 fiscal year was the stock price converging on the agreed-upon cash-out value. Everi Holdings Inc. was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on July 1, 2025, following the acquisition's consummation, with shareholders receiving $14.25 per share in cash. This price represented the final, realized value for investors.

Before the delisting, the stock traded in a tight range, reflecting the low-risk nature of the merger arbitrage. For context, the stock traded at $13.74 in February 2025, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.18 billion. The small gap between the market price and the $14.25 offer was the market's way of pricing in the minor risk of the deal failing to close or being delayed. The stock's volatility (beta) of 2.05 in early 2025 was largely irrelevant once the merger was approved; the investment became a bond-like instrument with a fixed maturity date.

Here's the quick math on the final value: Each share converted to a right to receive $14.25 net cash. That's a clean exit.

• Final Share Value: $14.25 cash per share.
• Delisting Date: July 1, 2025.
• Institutional Ownership (Pre-Merger): 95.47%.

Analyst Perspectives on the Final Exit

Analyst perspectives shifted from fundamental analysis to merger probability as the deal progressed. Once the transaction became highly probable, firms like Stifel and Raymond James downgraded their ratings from 'Strong Buy' to 'Hold' in mid-2024, moving their price targets closer to the $14.25 offer price. Why? Because the upside was capped.

A TipRanks AI Analyst gave Everi Holdings Inc. a 'Neutral' rating in April 2025, even as the merger was pending. This reflects the underlying financial picture that the acquirer, Apollo Funds, was taking on. For instance, preliminary Q1 2025 estimates showed a decrease in total revenues and Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA compared to the same period in 2024, plus the company carried a high debt-to-equity ratio of 3.84 in February 2025. These factors, alongside a high price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 91.57, were the fundamental challenges that made the cash-out offer attractive to shareholders, despite the company's strong FinTech segment.

The analysts' final consensus was a 'Hold' because the stock was trading at its maximum potential value, the cash-out price. There was no more equity upside to recommend.