Cherry acquires ComeOn

Gaming firm Cherry has signed an agreement to acquire 49 percent of the shares in Come Malta Ltd with an option to acquire the remaining 51 percent. ComeOn is a leading company in the rapidly expanding online gaming market  on desktop, tablet and mobile. ComeOn’s offering complements Cherry with well-known brands and strong positions, mainly in online casino and sports betting.

 

The acquisition will significantly strengthen Cherry’s position in Scandinavian markets. The acquisition also provides great opportunities for continued international expansion.

“This acquisition will strengthen Cherry’s position in online gaming against competitors in Scandinavia and other European markets. Both Cherry and ComeOn are growing considerably faster than the market as a whole, which facilitates further investments in existing brands and continued expansion in new markets. We will add several strong brands and will profit from the strong entrepreneurial spirit within ComeOn,” said Fredrik Burvall, CEO Cherry AB (publ).

 

With its successful multi-brand strategy, ComeOn enjoys a strong position in each of its main markets. ComeOn markets games under several well-established brands such as ComeOn.com, Mobilbet.com, casinostugan.com, folkeautomaten.com, Suomikasino.com, GetLucky.com and Kasyno.pl. ComeOn had 1,112,932 registered customers of which 109,608 were active as of end of December 2015. Cherry will strengthen its customer base considerably within sports betting, which accounted for approximately one third of ComeOn’s revenues in 2015.

 

“We are looking forward to joining forces with Cherry. Just like us, Cherry is growing quickly with a multi-brand strategy and we see a lot of potential synergies between the companies. We look forward to staying operationally involved with the new ownership, while still having a big stake in the future growth of the consolidated Cherry,” said ComeOn’s spokesperson Hans Martin Nakkim.

 

ComeOn’s sales in 2015 were close to EUR 80 million, an increase of about 60 percent compared to the previous year. The operating profit grew to approximately EUR 13 million, an increase close to 70 percent compared with the previous year. ComeOn expects to have sales of EUR 100-120 million, with an operating profit of EUR 19-23 million, in 2016. The company’s depreciation is insignificant.

 

ComeOn’s management and founders will continue to work in the combined business going forward.

 

ComeOn operates based on licenses in Malta, UK and Curacao. The company has its own operations in Malta, London, Gibraltar and Stockholm. ComeOn has a staff of around 210 in total. The parties do not expect any redundancies due to the transaction, since both groups are growing faster than the market and the combined resources will form a base for the continued expansion.

 

Identified synergies consists mainly of a broader product and brand portfolio, economies of scale such as reduced costs for payment solutions and game suppliers, and more efficient marketing.

 

The acquisition has to be approved by the shareholders in Cherry AB (publ) during an extra shareholders meeting. This meeting is expected to take place at the end of May or the beginning of June.