Betclic Everest completes Everest Gaming buyout
Operator acquires GigaMedia's 33.33% stake of US-based poker and casino business.
Betclic Everest Group has become the 100% owner of Mangas Everest, the holding company which holds the brands for the Everest poker and casino sites, buying out GigaMedia’s remaining 33.33% stake in the business.
Rumours of the deal first emerged earlier this year in May, when GigaMedia failed to provide any financial results for its share of the company in its results for the first three months of 2012, resulting in widespread speculation that it had written off its stake, after its non-cash investment loss of US$36.3m in Q4 2011 was attributed in part to the brand’s struggles.
In a statement released this morning Betclic Everest revealed that it had increased its 60% interest in Mangas Everest , originally acquired in December 2009, to 66.66% in April this year. The operator already pools liquidity for Everest Poker with its Betclic dot.com and dot.country brands, and will continue to do so following the acquisition.
Commenting on the deal Betclic Everest CEO Ignacio Martos (pictured) explained that the purchase comes as part of his restructuring of the business, which has seen Betclic Expekt’s operators divided into three key European regions, with regional directors responsible for each area’s P&L. Former Betclic Expekt CMO Marc Guigo has been put in charge of the French, Swiss and Belgian operations, while former country managers Ricardo Domingues and Tomasz Mazur head up the Southern and Northern European markets respectively.
“With this transaction, BetClic Everest Group confirms its ambition to be a major European player in both the online poker and sports betting sectors.
“We are carrying on with the reorganization and rationalization of our business by pooling costs, building synergies and establishing major partnerships to better serve our players,” Martos said.
The restructuring has resulted in a number of senior departures, with Betclic Expekt CEO Thomas Winter the first to depart the business in November 2011, followed by co-founder Eric Monçada and former CTO Pierrick Pétain in January this year. A number of other senior staff, including vice president of sales and marketing Christophe Blot; chief of regulatory and corporate affairs James Scicluna; head of social media Joakim Nilsson and head of central online marketing Lloyd Purser, have now also left, either to pursue other projects or as a direct consequence of the restructuring.
In an exclusive interview with eGaming Review in June, Martos spoke of his plans to relaunch the business after a “difficult” 2011, which saw the operator make a loss of over 90m for the year, due to “an accelerated depreciation of assets,” which prompted Betclic Everest’s co-owners Société des Bains de Mer and Lov Group “to accelerate most of [the operator’s] intangibles.” This resulted in a loss of 75m for these assets, coupled with a 16m operational loss, despite gross gaming revenues of over 300m for the twelve months.
Martos went on to reveal that Betclic Everest is currently trading ahead of expectations, and that he plans to re-enter the Spanish market, and increase investment in technology.