River iGaming completes Bear Group purchase from Gaming Realms

FSB has discontinued its white label business to complete its transformation into a B2B only technology service provider.

Gaming Realms has completed its withdrawal from the UK real money B2C market as a direct supplier, after finalising the sale of its Bear Group subsidiary to River iGaming.

The £11.5m cash consideration, made up of an initial £7.35m sum, a £1.5m deferred consideration due on or before December 31, 2020 and £2.65m of associated liabilities associated assumed by River, also sees Gaming Realms relinquishing its residual 30 per cent stake in River UK Casino.

A total of £3.1m of the funds received is to be utilised to repay its Barclays Bank overdraft facility, certain creditors, and costs relating to the transaction, with the remaining £4.25m to go towards game development and its licensing division.

Reducing costs and overheads via shedding 50 personnel as a result of sale, Gaming Realms states it is to focus on expanding and attaining higher margin game development and licensing. 

Under the terms of the agreement, River iGaming has secured Vegas Casino, Casonic, Pocket Fruity, Britain’s Got Talent Games, Spin Genie, X Factor Games and a number of small casinos currently operated by Bear Group.

Gaming Realms, however, retains the Slingo brand and slingo.com IP, which is to continue operating on the Bear Group gaming platform via a white label deal, the content of which it expects to go live on the platforms of Relax Gaming and Scientific Games by September and during the fourth quarter of this year respectively.

Patrick Southon, CEO of Gaming Realms, said of the deal: “The completion of the transaction marks a major step change for the business, and the ability to now focus on creating new gaming content and licensing, which is delivering much higher margin. 

“With a number of new licensing agreements in the pipeline and a much stronger balance sheet, the company looks forward to updating the market on further progress in due course.”