Playtech Expands and Rebrands Financials Division

Gambling provider Playtech announced the acquisition of financial services company ACM Group for a total consideration of $150 million. The new deal will see Playtech further expand its Financials Division, which it created several years ago.

Under the terms of the deal, Playtech will take control over intellectual property, technology, and customer assets from the purchased company. Team members from ACM or Alpha, as the financial services company is often referred to in the field, will also join its new owner’s Financials Division. As part of the acquisition deal, Playtech will assume ownership over a number of ACM’s clients, its proprietary trading technology, and its Alpha Pro trading platform, which is known to be mainly oriented towards institutional clients.

Playtech has agreed to pay a $5-million upfront payment and to make two payments equal to 1 x the 2017 and 2018 EBITDA. A contingent consideration of 5.2 x the 2019 EBITDA will complete the total consideration agreed upon. The two parties have capped the overall purchase price at $150 million.

The deal is yet to receive the necessary approval from interested parties. It is believed that it will be completed by the end of September.

Playtech also used the opportunity to reveal planned rebrand of its Financials Division as TradeTech Group, a name it has chosen to reflect the focus of the operations within the division in the most adequate way.

The Alpha acquisition deal has been the second one of this kind for Playtech since the beginning of the year and the first one within its Financials Division. Early in 2017, the company, which is better known for the provision of gambling services and products to numerous international clients, purchased slot games developer Eyecon Ltd. for the total amount of £50 million.

Playtech has previously announced a strategy to expand its operations and global presence across both the gambling and financial services industries through key acquisition deals. In a bid to deliver on its strategy the company spent more than €200 million on several key deals.

Chronology of Playtech’s 2016 Acquisition Deals
Playtech’s 2016 shopping spree began with a €50-million deal for the addition of Swedish game developer Quickspin to its portfolio. That deal was followed by a €138-million one for the acquisition of Germany’s Best Gaming Technology, a company well-known for the provision of self-service betting terminals.

In October, Playtech paid £14.9 million for ECM Systems, a provider of both software and hardware products for the bingo industry. Said company has long been known for working with Mecca Bingo, Gala Leisure, and a number of other major UK retail bingo brands.

In late-2016, Playtech boosted its Financials Division with the purchase of a 70% stake in Consolidated Financial Holdings A/S. Among other things, the latter offers its clients Straight Through Processing services. Playtech said that it would acquire the remaining 30% of the business in 2019.

In Gambling Provider Playtech Expands and Rebrands Financials Division

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