Canada’s Amaya Gaming is to buy bwin.party’s B2B poker network Ongame in a deal worth up to €25 million ($32.2 million). An initial payment of €15 million ($19.3 million) is payable in cash on completion — expected during the fourth quarter of 2012 but subject to standard conditions including regulatory approval. Additional payments of up to €10 million ($12.9 million) become payable if regulated online gaming arrives in the U.S. in the next five years. “The acquisition of Ongame bolsters Amaya Gaming’s product portfolio, transforming Amaya into a leading provider of gaming platforms,” said David Baazov, Chief Executive Officer of Amaya Gaming, in a statement. “Amaya looks forward to unleashing Ongame’s technology to its full potential through the leveraging of our many B2B relationships and delivering new partners and players to the network. The Ongame platform is scalable, proven and secure and is well suited for quick deployment in new regulated markets. We’re excited about the wide range of opportunities this acquisition makes possible for us as we execute on our vision,” he added. The Ongame poker network hosts online poker rooms for brands including Betsson, Betfair and Coral.
Release follows below...
Sale of Ongame to Amaya Gaming Group Inc. (‘Amaya Gaming’)
bwin.party today announces that it has agreed to sell Ongame, its business-to-business (‘B2B’) online poker network, to Amaya Gaming Group Inc. (‘Amaya Gaming’) for a total cash consideration of up to €25.0 million.
Contingent consideration will become payable by Amaya Gaming if there is regulated online gaming in the United States within five years of completion. The exact amount of the contingent consideration will depend upon the extent of the regulation based upon the number of states that regulate and the total population covered.
The transaction is subject to the normal terms and conditions for a transaction of this type as well as certain regulatory approvals and is expected to complete during the fourth quarter of 2012. The management of Ongame will transfer with the business and the net sale proceeds will be used by bwin.party for general corporate purposes.
Information on Ongame
Ongame Network Ltd (‘Ongame’) is one of the world’s largest B2B poker providers. The global network includes 25 of the e-gaming industry’s strongest brands that are owned by a total of 19 operators. Ongame also operates regional networks in France and Italy. The company offers both operators and their players a wide variety of cash games and tournaments to choose from. Further information about Ongame can be found
Commenting on today’s announcement, Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger, the Co-CEOs of bwin.party, said:
“The sale of Ongame conforms to our strategy, especially as we move closer to launching our single, proprietary technology platform in the next few months. We believe Ongame will fit well into Amaya Gaming and has an excellent future ahead.”
David Baazov, Chief Executive Officer of Amaya Gaming, said:
“The acquisition of Ongame bolsters Amaya Gaming’s product portfolio, transforming Amaya into a leading provider of gaming platforms. Amaya looks forward to unleashing Ongame’s technology to its full potential through the leveraging of our many B2B relationships and delivering new partners and players to the network. The Ongame platform is scalable, proven and secure and is well suited for quick deployment in new regulated markets. We’re excited about the wide range of opportunities this acquisition makes possible for us as we execute on our vision.” x was advised by McQueen Limited.
Game Titles List
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare, Mission: Impossible, The Terminator, Cleopatra, Sinatra, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, Monopoly, Resident Evil, Melon Madness, Wheel Of Fortune and Mega Fortune Wheel.
News
X
X has today announced a further step forward in the execution of our social gaming strategy with the signing of an agreement with Nordeus, the award-winning social gaming company, to develop initially a social sports betting application.
Having launched a new business unit called Win to drive our social gaming initiatives in May 2012, finding the right partner to help us exploit our strong presence in real money sports betting has been a key area of focus.
Founded in March 2010 by ex-Microsoft engineers Branko Milutinovic, Ivan Stojisavljevic and Milan Jovovic, Nordeus has established itself as the market leader in social sports games. The company's Top Eleven football management social game consistently features in the Top 25 list of games by daily average users on Facebook.
Top Eleven is the most-played online sports game in the World with more than 6 million monthly active users and 2 million daily active users on Web, Android and iOS devices. In addition to its popularity on Facebook, the Top Eleven game is available on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social network with more than 100 million users.
Nordeus was voted The Best Gaming Startup at the Europas Awards 2011 and was chosen as one of the 25 hi-tech European companies with 'most potential and successful outcome' by the European Tech Tour Association.
Norbert Teufelberger, Co-CEO of bwin.party, said: "Nordeus has demonstrated that there is great demand for social sports games around the world through its Top Eleven game. We will leverage our unrivalled sports brand and products as well as our online betting and gaming expertise.
Nordeus and xx are two European companies with global footprints and share an aspiration to become clear leaders in social sports gaming."
Branko Milutinovic, CEO of Nordeus, said: "Following the successful release of Top Eleven, we recognised a huge opportunity for social sports betting games based on the feedback from millions of our customers. Since then, we have been seeking the right partner and we are thrilled to have an opportunity to work with bwin.party, market leader in online sports betting and one of the most known brands in sports.
"With Top Eleven, we have proven that our unique approach in social games design is highly engaging and successful. With that in mind, we are convinced that leveraging our development experience in combination with bwin.party's expertise in real-money betting will lead to a highly successful title and establish our companies as the leaders in social sports gaming.
About Nordeus:
Nordeus, located in Belgrade in Serbia, is one of the leading and award winning European game development companies and officially the best European gaming startup of 2011. Its Top Eleven game, with more than 6 million monthly active users and 2 million daily active users on Web, Android and iOS devices, is the most played online sports game in the World. Nordeus' goal is to provide a seamless gaming experience to millions of people no matter what device they are using. Quite simply they make social games that are free and accessible to play on any device. Every day its team in Belgrade puts all of its talent into making 5-star games. Every day millions of people enjoy what they have created.
News
Nordeus
The world’s largest listed online gambling operator, has signed a deal that will see it develop a social sportsbetting application in partnership with Serbian firm Nordeus.
Following the launch of its bespoke Win business unit in May, bwin.party stated that the agreement is a ‘further step forward’ in the execution of its ‘social gaming strategy’ as it looks to capitalise on its ‘strong presence in real-money sportsbetting’.
“Nordeus has demonstrated that there is great demand for social sports games around the world through its Top Eleven game,” said Norbert Teufelberger, Co-Chief Executive Officer for bwin.party.
“We will leverage our unrivalled sports brand and products as well as our online betting and gaming expertise. Nordeus and bwin.party are two European companies with global footprints and share an aspiration to become clear leaders in social sports gaming.”
Based in Belgrade, Nordeus was established in March of 2010 by former Microsoft engineers Branko Milutinovic, Ivan Stojisavljevic and Milan Jovovic and concentrates on the development of social sports games. Its Top Eleven title is now one of the most-played games of its type in the world with in excess of six million monthly active users via the web and Android and iOS devices.
“Following the successful release of Top Eleven, we recognised a huge opportunity for social sportsbetting games based on the feedback from millions of our customers,” said Milutinovic, Chief Executive Officer for Nordeus.
“Since then, we have been seeking the right partner and we are thrilled to have an opportunity to work with bwin.party, a market-leader in online sportsbetting and one of the most known brands in sports.
"With Top Eleven, we have proven that our unique approach in social games design is highly engaging and successful. With that in mind, we are convinced that leveraging our development experience in combination with bwin.party’s expertise in real-money betting will lead to a highly successful title and establish our companies as the leaders in social sports gaming."
