evoke has announced the acquisition of New Gambling Solutions S.R.L. (NGS) and its subsidiary, the Romanian operator Winner.ro.
The international gambling conglomerate, which owns brands such as William Hill, 888, and Mr Green, will transfer its current Romanian assets and pay a debt-free consideration of €10 million ($10.8 million) for a 51% stake in NGS. The option to increase this stake to 100% will be available on the third anniversary of the deal.
Following the completion of the transaction, the 888.ro brand will be merged with Winner.ro, creating a regional player with a combined market share of around 7%.
Launched in 2019, Winner.ro rapidly developed its local distribution capabilities, establishing 20,000 retail deposit points. In the first six months of this year, the brand generated €19 million ($20.5 million) in gross gaming revenue (GGR).
The newly combined business will be led by Nicklas Zajdel, CEO of Winner since 2023. He currently manages a team of 80 people who will join the 500 employees of Evoke based in Romania.
Zajdel commented: “This is an incredibly exciting transaction, bringing together our local-hero brand, with one of the world’s strongest international casino brands.
“Romania is a high-growth market, and this combination sets us on the path to a sustainable, profitable, market-leading position. Winner has a strong leadership team and we are building on our success in the market through our highly localized approach, and competitive advantages such as our product platform, our enhanced personalisation, and wide network of deposit points.
“I look forward to working with the team at evoke to further deploy these competitive advantages across the enlarged business, driving significant benefits to our customers with enhanced personalisation, and ultimately driving our success in the market and value creation.”
According to the company, evoke fully understands the potential of the Romanian market and the acquisition of NGS is fully in line with its value creation plan.
Data from Regulus Partners shows that the market valuation of Romania is approximately €1.1 billion ($1.188 billion) in net revenue in 2023, with a projected growth rate of 13% CAGR from 2023 to 2026.
The Romanian market is expected to add to evoke’s earnings and reduce its leverage from 2025, and will also support the dual-brand strategy to improve marketing ROI.
The acquisition of Winner will make Romania evoke’s fifth major market after the UK, Italy, Spain and Denmark.
The transaction is scheduled to close in Q3 2024, and “is not expected to impact financial leverage in 2024”, leaving the recently issued FY24 guidance unaffected and projected to improve H2 2024 Adjusted EBITDA margin to around 21% – with a revenue growth of 5-9%.
Per Widerström, CEO of evoke, added: “I am excited to announce the addition of Winner to the evoke portfolio. This acquisition is consistent with our strategy to build sustainable market-leading profitable positions in the most attractive markets. It is also consistent with our M&A strategy to focus on low-capital, high-impact combinations that accelerate the delivery of our strategy.
“We have enjoyed significant success in Romania, which is an exciting growth market. This combination will cement a leading position for evoke, and I am looking forward to working with the whole team at Winner to deliver ongoing profitable growth and market share gains, as we deliver exceptional products through two incredibly strong and complementary brands.
“I am delighted to announce the creation of our fifth Core Market and have no doubt that this transaction will deliver significant value creation on top of our previously announced plan.”
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