Novomatic’s acquisition of AGT finally gets the go-ahead

r two years of patiently waiting, Novomatic AG’s acquisition of Ainsworth Game Technology is finally set to conclude at the beginning of 2018, on the 5 January.

At the end of last week, Novomatic’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Harald Neumann confirmed the deal was set to be finalised after all the required regulatory approvals had been received.

The press release Novomatic posted, stated: “The approval involved intense scrutiny from multiple gaming boards, including in Australia, South America and the United States.

“Novomatic is now one of the few internationally active companies to have passed strict compliance checks from these international authorities.”

Back in 2016, Len Ainsworth, Founder of AGT, penned a deal with Novomatic to sell off his majority stake in the company.

Ainsworth agreed to sell 172.1 million ordinary shares to the Austria-based gaming technology company, for an estimated AUS$70m.

Neumann stated that the acquisition was intended to help the company increase its market share in the US to approximately 10% over the following five years.