Inspired Gaming sells to private equity for £75m
UK gaming machine business Inspired Gaming has been bought by private equity house Vitruvian Partners for almost £75m.
INSPIRED Gaming, the UK gaming machine business, has been bought by middle-market private equity house Vitruvian Partners for almost £75m.
Inspired makes and sells open server-based gaming (Open SBG) software systems, and also provides analogue and Open SBG machines in the UK for the leisure and gaming markets.
London-headquartered Vitruvian specialises in middle-market buy-outs, growth buy-outs and growth capital investments in northern Europe, and acts as discretionary manager to the Vitruvian Fund, which has commitments of circa £800m.
It made its investment through its Bidco investment vehicle formed for the acquisition.
Inspired chief executive Luke Alvarez said: “In Vitruvian we have found the right partner to support this company’s development and provide the financial flexibility to implement its strategy. There are many exciting growth opportunities for Inspired’s technology and operations and my team is enthusiastic about what this partnership will achieve.”
Vitruvian managing partner Ian Riley said: “We have great respect for the business [Inspired] has built and we are keen to work with them and to provide financial support to help accelerate the growth of Inspired and to exploit new investment opportunities as they evolve over the medium term.”
The private equity firm values the Inspired shares in issue at the close of business on 30 April 2010, the last business day prior to the sale announcement, at £74.4m, a premium of 123.6% to the combined value of the then issued old ordinary shares and convertible preference shares at the close of business on 27 July 2009, the last business day prior to the commencement of the offer period.
The acquisition price of 60p per share in cash represents a premium of 21.2% to the closing price of 49.5p on 30 April 2010, and 31.7% to the average closing price of 45.56p for the three months ended 30 April 2010, the last business day prior to the date of this announcement.
Inspired senior non-executive director Julian Paul said: “The acquisition represents an opportunity for Inspired Shareholders to realise their entire investment in Inspired, in cash, at a premium to the current Inspired share price, within a relatively short period of time. We believe that the acquisition fairly reflects both Inspired’s future growth prospects and the challenges of executing its business plan as a publicly listed company.”
As an alternative to the cash consideration to which they would otherwise be entitled under the acquisition, eligible Independent Inspired Shareholders will be entitled to receive Holdco Group Securities subject to the terms and conditions of the Holdco Group Securities Alternative.