Winga owner to be bought for £187m
Japanese company NTT Docomo issues tender offer to acquire mobile content company Buongiorno through a German subsidiary.
Tokyo-listed mobile carrier NTT Docomo has issued a tender offer of Â¥24bn (£187m) to acquire all shares of Winga.it owner Buongiorno.
The offer – made through the Japanese company’s German subsidiary Docomo Deutschland – would include Buongiorno’s majority shareholder Mauro del Rio sell his stake to the company.
Buongiorno is one of more than 60 companies to have applied for a licence to operate in the Spanish market, and could find out whether or not it has been successful as soon as 1 June following a recent announcement from the country’s egaming regulator.
It is already licensed in Italy and France, receiving clearance to offer poker in the latter earlier this year, while it joined Playtech’s casino platform in December 2010 ahead of the regulation of online casino games in Italy, announced in February 2011.
The Winga.fr site launched in January 2011, while this year saw the company extend its French-facing offering to include poker.
As well as offering egaming under the Winga brand, mobile specialist Buongiorno offers music via the play.me brand and mobile payment services via cashlog.com.
A tender offer period of 25 days is set to begin as soon as clearance is received from the Italian securities regulatory authority, and the threshold required for the completion of the deal is two thirds of Buongiorno’s share capital. Upon completion of the offer Buongiorno would become a fully-owned subsidiary of Docomo.
Docomo said in a statement today that it “Decided to conduct the public tender in consideration of the potential positive impact on the growth of both companies
“The acquisition will combine DOCOMO’s innovative mobile business and services know-how in Japan and other countries with Buongiorno’s advanced mobile technologies and extensive global customer base,” the statement continued.
According to TechCrunch, Buongiorno currently employs 848 people and in its last full-year results reported 228.6m in revenues and an operating profit of 7 million. NTT Docomo’s fourth-quarter results earlier this month revealed revenues of Â¥69.3bn (£539m) for the three months ended 31 March.