The major live casino provider Evolution Gaming has announced its agreement to take over the slots and casino developer NetEnt, an older company who we know as the creator behind classic slots like Starburst, Twin Spin, Dead or Alive and hundreds of other video slots.
Both suppliers are listed on the Stockhom stock exchange, and the offer was made for a price of SEK 19.6bn (£1.6bn), and SEK79.93 per share. This will see Evolution owning over 90% of NetEnt once the deal is completed.
According to the company itself, “The merger of Evolution’s leading position in live casino and NetEnt’s strong position within online slots will create a first-class B2B supplier with opportunity to drive digitalisation of the global gaming industry”
Although the acceptance period for this offer starts in August and ends in October, NetEnt’s shareholders have already confirmed that the offer will be accepted from their part (EGR Global).
Who is Evolution Gaming?
Evolution Gaming was launched in 2006, and is a leading B2B Provider of live casino software, currently in partnership with over 300 online casino operators as well as some land-based operators. The company employs over 8,000 people across their studios in Europe and North America, and is the developer behind cutting-edge live casino games that include variants of popular table games as well as game shows which are becoming incredibly popular. Some of its highly innovative game shows include Deal or No Deal Live, Monopoly Live, Live Mega Ball and Dream Catcher.Â
Only this February, Evolution was crowned Online Casino Supplier of the Year at the Global Gaming Awards in London, and has won numerous other awards in the past couple of years.
Evolution-NetEnt takeover: getting a strong foothold in the igaming market
NetEnt’s history goes far way back than Evolution’s, as the company was founded back in 1996. Evolution’s takeover of NetEnt is therefore big news, and a strong indicator of how far the live casino provider has come in recent years. Only last year, NetEnt merged with the major slot developer Red Tiger for £220m, in an attempt to rectify its waning share price – something that seems to have worked, as NetEnt did finally record growth after integrating with this provider (and laying off some 120 of its employees in the process).
In turn, this former integration will certainly benefit Evolution, whose foothold in the industry will be strengthened significantly thanks to this takeover. In fact, things bode really well, as NetEnt’s share price soared from SEK 56.00 to SEK 77.00 following the news of this takeover (Gambling Insider).