GameAccount Network raises £22.2m ahead of AIM listing
London-based B2B platform and content supplier valued at roughly £75m ahead of listing on London's AIM market
GameAccount Network (GAN) has raised a total of £22.2m following an oversubscribed institutional placement of shares valuing the company at around £75m ahead of its listing on AIM on November 25.
The company, which operates in the UK, US, Spanish and Italian markets, raised the majority of the money through the sale of new shares, however, £7.2m of the total was contributed via the disposal of existing shares.
The successful share placement comes as the company prepares to be admitted to trading on the ESM market of the Irish Stock Exchange and the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on November 25.
“Strong international investor interest contributing to an oversubscribed offering highlights the significant opportunity for GameAccount Network in a rapidly growing regulated internet gaming sector,” Dermot Smurfit (pictured), GAN CEO, said in a statement.
“We have a proven management team, a best-in-class Internet gaming technology, no debt and a strong financial position to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the regulated Internet gaming sector,” he added.
Following the sale, Smurfit has seen his shareholding reduce from 16.6% to 13.3% while his uncle, Michael Smurfit, sees his stake cut to 9.54%.
GAN, which provides licensing gaming content to such firms as Paddy Power, William Hill, Rank and Lottomatica, said the placing will now allow it to accelerate the growth of its business by expanding its US sales and development infrastructure, as well as drive further growth in Europe.
The news comes as London-based GAN prepares to launch its first egaming products into the US market via a commercial partnership with Betfair
The supplier, which has offices in London and Nevada, will provide a platform and game content to the BetfairNJ-branded site which is also set to go live later this month.
The float is the second attempt by the Irish firm to go public following its aborted 2005 plan to raise £100m to buy a US-based rival by floating on AIM.
GameAccount eventually pulled out of the 2005 deal after discovering the acquisition target was unprofitable.
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