NeoGames launches €420m bid to buy Aspire Global

M&A

NeoGames has made a bid to acquire Aspire Global Plc for approximately €420m. Aspire Global unanimously recommends the shareholders of Aspire Global to accept NeoGames offer of SEK111 per share.

Shareholders, who in aggregate own shares corresponding to 66.96% of all shares and votes in Aspire Global, have entered into irrevocable undertakings that enable the other shareholders in Aspire Global to tender their shares to NeoGames and receive 100 percent cash consideration corresponding to SEK 111.00 per share tendered in Aspire Global representing a premium of 41% compared to today’s closing price of SEK 78.5 for Aspire Global’s share. 

The synergies between the companies expend more the control in the value chain of gaming and lottery and will allow the group to become a true online leader in regulated markets NeoGames will gain access to Aspire Global proprietary products and world leader in the managed services offering, also to big volumes in regulated markets such as Europe, Latin America and Africa. Tsachi Maimon will remain as the CEO of Aspire Global group and will be appointed to be the president of the NeoGames group.

Tsachi Maimon, CEO Aspire global: “Aspire Global is a high quality, leading supplier with a one stop shop in the regulated gaming industry. Following the acquisition of Btobet, Pariplay, the recent investment in bingo and the divestment of the B2C division and now this potential merger with NeoGames, we will create a leading global supplier for the entirety of the iGaming and iLottery space overnight. I strongly believe that the two companies are well matched with a solid cultural connection forged over many years of working together which will facilitate meaningful revenue synergies. The deal will allow us to leverage NeoGames’ presence in the U.S. to grow even further in this market whilst continuing to roll out new products and support the growth of our regulated clients in Europe, Latin America, Africa and North America.

Setting aside the value creation from a financial perspective, both NeoGames and Aspire Global will be able to offer a state-of-the-art enhanced gaming solution as well as supporting growth for existing and new clients. This is an exciting new chapter for my management and employees as we look to lead the space with high quality and innovative products”

Moti Malul, CEO, NeoGames “This is a highly strategic and transformational transaction for NeoGames that represents perhaps one of the more important milestones for us as a company. We believe that the combination of our two very successful companies will create a leading global provider across all forms of online lottery, sports betting and gaming that would have significant global active presence in many key markets.

As a pure-play iLottery provider, we have experienced first-hand the strong convergence and expansion trend of lotteries in many countries globally into online gaming verticals and we believe that with this transaction we will become an even better strategic partner to our existing and future customers. We are excited to also be able to become a leading global provider to regulated gaming operators through the vast experience and product set that Aspire Global brings to our combined entity, together with profound operational experience which is a crucial success factor. The strong ties and cultural fit between the companies, where significant parts of our management teams have worked together and cooperated along the years, provides a great platform for future collaboration and success”.

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