Betsson completes acquisition of Gaming Innovation Group’s B2C assets

Oslo-listed Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has completed the sale of its customer-facing brands to operator Betsson.

Following an initial agreement in February, Betsson has acquired GiG subsidiary Zecure Gaming for €33m, including €2m as a cash deposit to secure GiG’s Spanish online casino license.

Zecure Gaming operates B2C brands including Guts, Kaboo, Rizk and Thrills, which will continue to operate on GiG’s platform for a minimum of 30 months, with Betsson becoming a long-term B2B partner as part of the deal.

GiG confirmed that 63 employees and full-time consultants have now been transferred to Betsson. As part of the transaction, GiG and Betsson have also entered into a transition service agreement which will see GiG offer services to Betsson to support the brands’ operations for an initial period. These services will be invoiced at cost and include an additional 54 GiG employees.

GiG will use part of the sale proceeds to repay the company’s SEK300m 2017-2020 bond, due next week.

“The sale of the B2C vertical is a result of GiG’s strategic review to reduce complexity and improve efficiency,” said GiG. “By divesting the B2C vertical, GiG will free up resources, enabling full dedication on driving and growing its B2B business, securing stable and sustainable earnings and profit margins.

“GiG sees a large and sustainable addressable market for its media and platform business as the regulation of the iGaming industry continues and is well positioned with the omni-channel platform offering to capitalise on the continued digital transformation of the worldwide gambling market.”

In a statement Betsson said that its ambition was to create shareholder value by outgrowing the online gambling market.

“This transaction further strengthens Betsson’s presence in some of its key strategic markets and opens for further opportunities with new brands in Croatia and Spain,” said the operator. “Betsson expects the acquisition to increase scale in the business and to unleash synergies, being both revenue and earnings accretive from the second quarter 2020 onwards.”

Shares in Betsson AB (STO:BETS-B) were trading down 1.28 per cent at SEK44.66 per share in Stockholm earlier Thursday, while shares in Gaming Innovation Group (OSL:GIG) gained 10.10 per cent to NOK4.42 per share in Oslo.