Rumours about Ainsworth Game Technology, a renowned gaming manufacturer from Australia, have been becoming louder in recent times – and now the company itself has confirmed them.
New advisors and privatization as a solution:
The company will be delisted from the Australia Stock Exchange (ASX), and it will be privatized. The company has already chosen a financial advisor who will help them throughout the process and revise all potential opportunities the company can take from now on. The advisor, as announced on Monday, is Macquarie Capital.
However, the process has just begun. The group said that ‘no expressions of interest have been received by the company’.
The first half of the year wasn’t so successful for Ainsworth – in the first six months, to June 30th, the company earned revenue of AU$143.6 million, or US$92 million. However, the shareholders earned AU$4.1 million, or US$2.6 million. This is almost 30% less than the company earned in the same period in 2022. However, this isn’t the real situation since the investments made in Argentina subdued the profits, but the fact is that the situation on the Australian market still remains the same.
The company wants to explore all of the possibilities and various strategic alternatives that might help it increase the value of its shareholders, as Ainsworth released on Monday. As Inside Asian Gaming said, they explained: “The process will look to review and assess all strategic alternatives which could assist the Company in maximizing shareholder value. The strategic review will include a broad range of potential organic and inorganic alternatives, and there can be no assurance that any transaction will result. The Company remains committed to driving sustained, long-term growth through delivering on our product strategy and continued investments in R&D.”
The company’s group notes mentioned including a range of various potential alternatives, both organic and inorganic. However, the decision isn’t final yet, and it is not a definite decision if the efforts will result in any transactions.
Novomatic as the potential buyer:
Asia Gaming Brief reports the claims of the Australian Financial Review, in which the potential interested parties are mentioned. According to them, the most likely is that the famous Novomatic will buy the shares since it already owns the majority of the company.
More than 50% of the company had been sold by Len Ainsworth to Novomatic in 2016. The price was almost AU$500 million, or US$319 million. Ainsworth is known as the founder of Aristocrat, the famous gaming company.
