Gaming Realms offloads remaining B2C business for £11.5m
Malta-based River iGaming completes 100% acquisition of Gaming Realms’ real-money gaming subsidiary Bear Group
Gaming Realms has agreed an £11.5m deal to sell its remaining 30% stake of real-money gaming subsidiary Bear Group to River iGaming.
Malta-based River iGaming already owned the majority of the business after acquiring a 70% stake for £23m back in June 2018.
Gaming Realms said today it does not expect the sold assets to achieve its 12-month £2.2m EBIT target, meaning it will not receive any further deferred consideration.
The company has therefore agreed to sell its remaining 30% subject to shareholder approval and will grant River iGaming a sole perpetual licence for its real-money gaming platform.
After selling the initial 70% stake, Gaming Realms CEO Patrick Southon said the move would allow the London-listed firm to focus on strengthening its B2B offering.
“We believe that this sale will be transformational for Gaming Realms as it will enable us to focus more of our resources on international licensing and the development of new gaming content, placing us in a stronger position to drive further profitable growth in the future,” said Southon.
Regulus Partners analyst Paul Leyland said the sale was indicative of the struggles faced by real money gaming operators in the UK after two material Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) tax rises.
“The Gaming Realms deal comes alongside Stride announcing a strategic review, JPJ selling its diffuse underperforming bingo brand portfolio to 888 and Sun Bingo renegotiating its contract with Playtech,” said Leyland.
“Bingo is especially vulnerable currently not only because of the number of multi-brand skins and the focus on bonuses for customer acquisition, but also because it is much more UK-centric than other products, meaning UK-led pain is considerably more problematic to most bingo-led groups.”