Gaming Realms PLC (LON:GMR) has completed the sale of its real money gaming subsidiary, Bear Group, to River iGaming PLC.
The mobile casino game developer said it had received an initial cash sum of £7.35mln, with a deferred consideration of £1.5mln due before 31 December 2020. River, meanwhile, had also assumed £2.65mln of liabilities associated with Bear, taking the total value of the deal to £11.5mln.
READ: Gaming Realms sells real money gaming subsidiary to focus on higher growth areas
GMR said it would use part of the initial £7.35mln from the transaction to repay an overdraft facility, certain creditors and transactions costs, which together amounted to £3.1mln.
The remaining £4.25mln would then be used to fund the game development and licensing division until it turned cash positive.
The Company also said it was continuing to review options for the sale or rationalisation of its social publishing division.
The sale of Bear finalises GMR’s withdrawal from the UK real money B2C market, which it said it February was “increasingly difficult” to operate in due to strict regulations and increases in point of consumption tax.
GMR has now decided to focus on the licensing of its Slingo brand of online casino games and is targeting the US market following a relaxing of gambling restrictions in the country.
Patrick Southon, chief executive, said that the completion of the sale was “a major step change” for the business, which would now focus on delivering “higher margin” gaming content for licensing.
“With a number of new licensing agreements in the pipeline and a much stronger balance sheet, the Company looks forward to updating the market on further progress in due course", he added.
In late-morning trading on Wednesday, Gaming Realms shares were steady at 5.8p.
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