LeoVegas acquires IPS in £65m deal

ne casino and gaming company LeoVegas have announced the signing of a £65m deal to acquire the assets of Alderney-based company Intellectual Property & Software Limited (IPS).

The company has also purchased other related assets from Newcastle's Rocket9 Limited and another unnamed company, encompassing brands such as 21.co.uk, Slotboss, Bet UK and UK Casino.

In a release on the London Stock Exchange, LeoVegas confirmed that the acquisition will be financed partly in cash, with the rest of the acquisition cost being paid via funds generated from the business’ debt financing, secured when the company engaged in the €60m deal to purchase Royal Panda in October 2017.

As a business, IPS focuses on digital data-driven customer acquisition in the UK through mobile devices and utilises a technical platform from gaming supplier Bede Gaming.

During the fourth quarter of 2017, IPS generated gaming revenues of £11.7m, with an adjusted EBITDA of £3.8m, a rise of 49% compared with the fourth quarter of 2016.

As a part of the acquisition, LeoVegas has entered into a services agreement with Bede Gaming whose platform is “very advanced from both a technical and product standpoint, thus a very good technology solution for the UK gaming market” according to LeoVegas’ release.

This latest acquisition is LeoVegas’ third in the space of four months, following the acquisition of both Royal Panda and the casino streaming provider CasinoGrounds in December.

Acknowledging LeoVegas’ first acquisition of 2018, Gustaf Hagman, CEO of the LeoVegas group, said: "To be able at our 6-year anniversary of the launch of LeoVegas to conduct this remarkable acquisition feels just great! Since its start LeoVegas has pursued a highly successful global brand strategy. Following the acquisition of Royal Panda, LeoVegas now works with two scalable brands.”

In IPS we see several attractive attributes, and they have tremendous momentum in their growth and profitability. Combined with one of the market's most effective customer acquisition models, we are now gaining a firm stronghold in the UK with the acquisition of 85 employees with local expertise. With this acquisition, we are adding a company culture with a strong technology and product focus which is a perfect fit with LeoVegas' to further strengthen the Group's position as the leading GameTech company."