Cherry completes acquisition of ComeOn
Cherry AB (publ) (“Cherry”) has today completed the acquisition of the remaining 51 percent of the shares in ComeOn Malta Ltd (“ComeOn”), and has accordingly closed the acquisition of 100 percent of the shares. The integration work that has been successfully carried out since July 2016 and with the acquisition, Cherry becomes the third largest online gaming operator in the Nordics.
The total purchase price is based on a multiple of ten times ComeOn’s operating profit (EBIT) for the full year 2016. The initial EUR 80,000,000 portion of the purchase price, which was paid in July 2016, has been deducted from the total purchase price of EUR 289,804,087. The total purchase price for the remaining 51 percent of the shares in ComeOn amounts to EUR 209,804,087 and has been paid with a combination of a total of 3,341,657 newly issued shares of series B (corresponding to 40 percent of the purchase price for the remaining 51 percent of the shares in ComeOn) and EUR 125,882,474 paid in cash (corresponding to 60 percent of the purchase price for the remaining 51 percent of the shares in ComeOn). The subscription price per newly issued share of series B has been calculated to SEK 244.02 and been paid in kind in the form of shares in ComeOn.
The cash portion of the purchase price has been financed through additional senior secured callable bonds issued under Cherry’s existing bond loan within a frame of total EUR 200,000,000, with final maturity date 11 July 2020. The bonds are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (ISIN SE0008321616).
In accordance with IFRS, ComeOn has been consolidated as a wholly-owned subsidiary from 1 October 2016 from an accounting perspective.
The new issue of shares was resolved by Cherry’s board of directors by virtue of authorization from the Extraordinary General Meeting of 13 March 2017 and entails an increase of the share capital of SEK 1,837,911.35 and a dilution of approximately 16.2 percent of the shares and 11.3 percent of the votes in the company. The dilution has been calculated as the number of issued shares and votes divided with the number of shares and votes after the share issue. Following registration with the Swedish Companies’ Registration Office (Sw. Bolagsverket), the number of shares in Cherry will amount to a total of 20,602,732, representing a total of 29,581,132 votes, distributed among 997,600 shares of series A and 19,605,132 shares of series B. Cherry does not have any holding of own shares.
For further information, please contact:
Anders Holmgren, CEO, +46 708 607 534, anders.holmgren@cherry.se
Carolina Haglund Strömlid, Head of Investor Relations & Communications, +46 708 807 173, carolina.stromlid@cherry.se
This information is information that Cherry AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above on 11 May 2017.
Cherry in brief
Cherry is a Swedish innovating and fast growing gaming company established in 1963. The business strategy is to create shareholder value by owning and developing fast-growing and profitable businesses within the gaming and casino industry. Cherry operates within five diversified business areas, Online Gaming through ComeOn!, Performance-based Marketing through Game Lounge, Gaming Technology through XCaliber. Game Development through Yggdrasil Gaming and Restaurant Casino through Cherry Spelglädje. The objective is to grow organic in combination with strategic acquisitions of fast-growing companies. Cherry employs around 1 100 people and has more than 6,000 shareholders. The Company’s B-shares are listed on AktieTorget.
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