Mobile games developer Gaming Realms PLC (LON:GMR) is to sell Bear Group, the company's real money gaming operating subsidiary for £11.5mln.
The buyer is River iGaming, a company listed in Oslo.
READ: Gaming Realms inks sublicensing deal with Scientific Games Digital to develop Slingo Monopoly game
The cash consideration for these transactions will include the settlement of the contracted deferred consideration of £4.2mln owed by River UK Casino to the group, due in October 2020.
The net consideration from the transaction will provide sufficient working capital for the development of games, the remote game server and worldwide licensing, Gaming Realms said. In addition, it will provide resources for the repayment by the group of the £3.5mln loan from JPJ Group.
Gaming Realms will retain the Slingo brand and slingo.com intellectual property (IP) and intends to enter into a white label agreement with River iGaming ensuring that the group's slingo.com brand can continue to operate on the Bear Group gaming platform.
Bear Group had adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) of around £500,000 in 2017 on net gaming revenues of £8.8mln.
As for the group as a whole, results for 2018 are expected to show revenue and adjusted EBITDA in line with market expectations, with an adjusted EBITDA loss of about £700,000.
The disposal will allow the group to focus on the development and licensing of proprietary online games, which had a strong year in 2018; revenue from these sources for the first six weeks of 2019 was running 118% above the daily average of 2018.
Fantastic news for Gaming Realms #GMR shareholders this morn ref Real Money Gaming division sale. Net cash equates to almost market cap. Buy. https://t.co/BJ1nqz37Ma
— Align Research (@AlignResearch) February 22, 2019
"The new UK regulatory environment, together with increases in point of consumption tax, has made it increasingly difficult to operate a sole UK-facing casino and real money platform; however, the acquisition of the Slingo brand and IP in 2015 has enabled the company to become a highly regarded developer and licensor of games in the international gaming market,” said Patrick Southon, the chief executive officer of Gaming Realms.
“This is a high growth market and one that the board believes can be further developed for the benefit of shareholders,” he added.