Unibet acquires iGame Group in 59m deal
Operator agrees deal for second major acquisition this summer and outlines plans to scale iGame's locally-focused approach in Nordic and Central European markets
Unibet has continued its aggressive acquisition drive after agreeing a 59m (£41.6m) deal to acquire Scandinavia-facing multi-brand operator iGame Group.
The initial price will be payable in cash upon completion of the deal, which is expected in Q3 2015, with additional earn-out payments up to a cap of 20m potentially payable depending on iGame’s performance up to 30 June 2016.
“The iGame brands are well known in their local markets and we see a lot of potential by combining our bigger scale, mobile, cross channel and product expertise with their local focus,” Henrik Tjärnström, Unibet CEO, said.
“As the majority of the iGame revenues comes from casino, our joint plan is to keep a number of these brands as a complement to our existing brands, Unibet and Maria,” he added.
The deal should achieve synergies including a wider product portfolio, effective marketing and economies of scale associated with third-party procurement of products and media, Unibet said.
iGame reported gross winning revenues of 13.7m for six-month period to 30 June 2015 as well as EBITDA of 4.7m off an active customer base of around 75,000.
The management team of iGame, led by CEO Tommi Maijala, will remain with the business and are subject to retention arrangements during the next three years. iGame has approximately 130 employees, most of whom are based in Malta.
“We are very happy to be joining the Unibet Group. While Unibet is larger than iGame, we share the same passion for serving our customers and improving the operations every day,” Maijala said.
“Through this deal our customers will quickly see the benefits from our ability to improve the product offering. Our ability to accelerate the growth and development of the business will also provide new opportunities for our great team,” he added.
Maijala had told eGaming Review in June that iGame Group was “good to go” on its own IPO, but evidently the offer from Unibet proved too good to turn down.
The acquisition is the latest M&A move from Unibet, with the operator signalling its intentions to further expand into the UK market with the £19m purchase of Stan James’ digital business last month.
At the time Tjärnström said the operator was still keeping a watchful eye on new acquisition targets.
“We get constant offers and opportunities and we have several that we’re working more or less actively on so we’ll see when we get to that position,” the CEO said.