October 01, 2012

bwin.party sells Ongame for an initial €15m

bwin.party has agreed to sell Ongame poker network to Canada’s Amaya Gaming Group for an initial consideration of €15m, with an additional amount of up to €10m becoming payable if regulated online gaming is introduced in the United States within five years.

The sale is subject to conditions including regulatory approvals and is expected to complete during the fourth quarter of 2012, at which time the management of Ongame will transfer with the business to Amaya.

Amaya will pay bwin.party €15m in cash upon completion, with up to a further €10m payable if regulated online gaming is introduced in the US within five years. The exact amount of the contingent consideration will depend on the extent of regulation in the United States based upon the number of states that regulate and the total population covered.

The terms of the sale are similar to those agreed between bwin.party and Shufflemaster before the latter withdrew from the deal, however, the overall consideration is now 15 per cent lower than that previously agreed with Shufflemaster.

bwin.party co-CEO Jim Ryan commented: “The sale of Ongame conforms to our strategy, especially as we move closer to launching our single, proprietary technology platform in the next few months. We believe Ongame will fit well into Amaya Gaming and has an excellent future ahead.”

“The acquisition of Ongame bolsters Amaya Gaming’s product portfolio, transforming Amaya into a leading provider of gaming platforms,” added Amaya CEO David Baazov. “Amaya looks forward to unleashing Ongame’s technology to its full potential through the leveraging of our many B2B relationships and delivering new partners and players to the network.”

Amaya said the acquisition of Ongame would position it to participate in the US market should the government decide to regulate online poker, while at the same time strengthening it's B2B interactive product portfolio.

No comments:

Post a Comment