Gaming Realms in Realnetworks deal

UK online gambling group Gaming Realms plc announced Friday that it has initiated a large placing in order to raise funds for the $18 million acquisition of “numerous assets” from the Seattle-based media distribution service provider RealNetworks in order to develop real-money gaming products using the Slingo brand.

The deal involves a $10 million payment on completion followed by two deferred tranches of $4 million paid one and two years after the deal is completed respectively.

Realnetwork has the choice for up to $4 million of the $8 million deferred payment to be paid in Gaming Realms shares.

To fund the initial consideration of the acquisition, Gaming Realms has issued 50 million new shares in the company at 25 pence per share to raise GBP12.5 million, which will fund up to $14 million of the total consideration.

Under the terms of the deal, Gaming Realms will acquire GameHouse US and Canadian Game studios; the Social and Mobile Freemium portfolio of games and publishing network; the Slingo Brand and associated patents; certain game domains including Sudoku.com and Mahjong.com; an intellectual property licence relating to the GameHouse Promotion Network and the entire issued share capital of Backstage Technologies.

Gaming Realms says the acquisitions give it an entry point into the North American market whilst the Slingo brand will open up the social casino gaming segment of online gaming. The deal additionally brings an experienced management team with sector experience from companies such as GTech, Aristocrat, Double Down Interactive and Xbox Live.

“Slingo is a well-established brand and has already benefited from sitting on our platform alongside our Pocket Fruity and Spin Genie brands. The addition of Slingo to our existing portfolio creates an exciting player offering,” said chief executive Patrick Southon Friday.

“The directors believe that the acquisition will transform the group into an international, multi-brand developer in real and casual gaming and that it will greatly enhance the Group’s capabilities in development, distribution, marketing and ownership of intellectual property,” he added.

Gaming Realms plans to use Slingo to launch a new real-money gambing product through its Spin Genie product. Slingo, a combination of slots and bingo, proved to be a powerful brand during its partnership with Zynga, attracting 54 million monthly active users as a freemium game, but after that appeared to falter.

RealNetworks acquired the asset in 2014 for $15.6 million and extended its reach with a new app titled Singo Adventure earlier this year.

Both the acquisition and placing are conditional on shareholder approval at a meeting due to be held on August 10.