NetEnt Agrees to Purchase Red Tiger Gaming For £220 Million in Company's First Ever Acquisition

iGaming giant, NetEnt, has committed itself to a giant leap forward as the completion of c has been announced. The Stockholm-based company has seized control of Red Tiger Gaming' assets for a total sum of £220 million.

The historic acquisition will be accomplished in an all-cash deal. The immediate value of this endeavor is £197m. This will be followed by earn out of up to £23m which is the sum that should be paid by 2022.

CEO's First Impressions

Following this deal, CEO of NetEnt, Therese Hillman, spoke of it:

“I am very pleased to welcome Red Tiger into the NetEnt Group. The acquisition combines two of the leading and most innovative companies in the online gaming industry

We look forward to working with Red Tiger’s fantastic team to enhance our combined global reach and to offer further value to operators and players. The transaction will provide significant revenue synergies across our markets worldwide.”

Red Tiger was founded in 2014...

...and has quickly established itself as one of the industry's leading developers. The Daily Jackpots feature, that is very prominent in their products, has since been a huge hit with players worldwide. The company has headquarters in Malta, Bulgaria and Isle of Man and has approximately 170 employees.

Becoming a Part of NetEnt Group

CEO of Red Tiger, Gavin Hamilton, has also expressed his opinion:

“This is an exciting new stage of the Red Tiger story and we are delighted to become part of the NetEnt group. Accessing NetEnt’s unparalleled distribution network and geographic footprint will unlock new opportunities for Red Tiger and will further accelerate our growth.

At Red Tiger we’ll remain focused as always on driving further innovation and we are looking forward to working with NetEnt on how to leverage our combined capabilities to create new products that wow our customers.”

The Business Side of the Deal

The way this purchase will be completed is...

...NetEnt is going to pay the £197m for 100% of business shares, while the remaining £23m can be payable in 2022. Red's financial performance over the coming years points to the total value of £223 – that's 12 times their earnings before taxes, depreciation, amortization and interest that should be in the vicinity of £18m.

NetEnt will incur cca SEK55m in transaction and costs related to financing. The financing of this deal is undertaken through new debt facilities by Nordea and Danske Bank. Legal advisor in the instance of this purchase was Cirio Advokatbyra while Lazard was the financial advisor.

Swiss Launch and Eastern-Themed Game

Red has launched their iGaming platform with Switzerland's Grand Casino Baden whose jackpots.ch website has gone live after the country legalized online gambling last year.

Commercial Director Chris Looney has said that the company is excited about introducing a new country to their titles and is looking forward to building a strong partnership with Grand Casino Baden.

Meanwhile...

...the Sweden-based supplier has premiered their brand-new slot game dubbed, Imperial Riches. The 5x3 slot with Avalanche, Free Falls, The Lucky Pond bonus and 5 jackpots features is already launched with operators that have its platform in their gaming lobby.

Source:

“NetEnt agrees £220m acquisition of Red Tiger Gaming”, igamingbusiness.com, September 5, 2019.