News

Cherry completes acquisition of shares in ComeOn

22 July 2016


(PRESS RELEASE) -- Cherry AB (publ) announces that the company has, as of today, completed the acquisition of the first 49% of shares in ComeOn Malta Ltd. Cherry's acquisition means that the company's market position will be considerably strengthened in Scandinavia with strong brands including ComeOn, Mobilbet, Folkeautomaten and Casinostugan. The transaction also brings fantastic opportunities for continued international expansion.

The consideration for the 49% has been paid with 2,901,475 B-shares and EUR 39.7 million in cash — a total of EUR 80 million. The issue of shares has been directed to the sellers of ComeOn and represents a 16.8% dilution in Cherry.

ComeOn! is expected to have an immediate positive effect on Cherry's profit after financial items and cash flow.

ComeOn reported preliminary sales of approximately EUR 48 million and an EBIT for the period Jan. 1, 2016, to June 30, 2016, amounting to approximately EUR 10 million. The figures are adjusted for certain items and have been provided by the sellers and has not been subject for audit or review by Cherry. This shows that ComeOn's financial performance is in line with the group's expected operating profit for 2016 of EUR 19-23 million. This result is the basis for the final purchase price.

"Now we have completed the acquisition of the first 49 percent of ComeOn, we will, together with ComeOn, initiate the work of maximizing our common values and customer offerings with the goal to strengthen our common operation. It is important that we and ComeOn clearly schedule the process so that when the final integration takes place it will be both swift and efficient," says Fredrik Burvall, CEO of Cherry.

The final and total consideration for the shares in ComeOn will also be paid with a combination of newly issued shares and cash. The cash part is to be financed with an expansion of the corporate bond, and the price for the new share issue will be calculated as the volume weighted average share price during the 15 trading days following Cherry's announcement to exercise the option to acquire the remaining 51% in ComeOn (tranche two). The option can be exercised during the period Oct. 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2016. The total consideration can be a maximum of EUR 280 million on a debt-free basis.