Imperusâ $26m Akamon acquisition suffers delay
Deadline for final proposal put back by more than a month, news prompts 30% slump in Imperusâ share price
Imperus Technologies has pushed back the date by which it must finalise its proposed £17m acquisition of social casino developer Akamon Entertainment, a move which has seen its share price slump 30%. [private]
Under the deal, first announced on 8 September, Imperus had the right to exercise the option to acquire Akamon before 25 September, with the closing to occur on or before 2 October.
But the proposed deal has now been amended to state that Imperus has the option, but not the obligation, to acquire Akamon by 9 November, with the deal to close on or before 16 November.
As a result of the extension, Imperusâ advanced deposit will no longer be deducted from the purchase price, which will be increased by £200,000.  An additional £400,000 will also be paid to Akamon shareholders as a non-refundable deposit which will be used towards the final purchase price.
âAkamon’s growth is impressive, and we believe that their methodical approach to monetisation coupled with their leading game content will benefit Imperus greatly,â James Lathiner, Imperus CEO, said. âWe look forward to closing the transaction,â he added.
Akamon is the second major acquisition Imperus has made in the social casino space this year after buying Israel-based social games developer Diwip for $50m (£32.6m) in February.
Akamon was founded in 2011 and is one of the largest social casino operators in Latin America and Southern Europe with its portfolio of free-to-play games attracting more than 450,000 daily users.
Following the completion of the deal the Akamon management team will remain in place including chief product officer Alex Cohen and CEO Vicenç MartÃ.
Imperusâ share price was down 28% to $0.13 at the time of writing.