Novalpina subsidiary to buy Olympic Entertainment for €288.4 million

Odyssey Europe AS, a subsidiary of Luxembourgian investment company Novalpina, has made an offer to acquire all shares of listed Estonian gaming group Olympic Entertainment Group AS (OEG). Olympic's two core shareholders, Armin Karu and Jaan Korpusov, have already accepted.
Odyssey Europe AS has announced its intention to make a voluntary offer to acquire all shares of Olympic Entertainment Group AS for the purchase price of €1.90 per share, which is a premium of 3.26 percent on the volume-weighted average stock exchange price of OEG shares of the last six months, Olympic told the stock exchange on Monday.
As OEG has issued 151.8 million shares, the value of the offer is €288.4 million.
The two majority shareholders that together hold approximately 64 percent of OEG's stock have already accepted the offer.
Following the completion of the transaction, Odyssey intends to take OEG off the Nasdaq Tallinn stock exchange.
The bidder and the majority shareholders of OEG, Armin Karu's OÜ HansaAssets with 45 percent and Jaan Korpusov's OÜ Hendaya Invest with 18.9, have entered into a share purchase agreement.
The majority shareholders will accept the offer, and subject to the fulfilment of the closing conditions of the offer will transfer their shares to the bidder on the value date for the price of €1.90 per share.
The transaction would earn Armin Karu €129.9 million and Jaan Korpusov €54.6 million.
"Having started out as a small enterprise in Estonia 25 years ago, I am glad that OEG has emerged as a large company with an excellent business model and a strong position in six member states of the European Union," Karu said in a press release.
"The Novalpina Capital team has remarkable experience namely with investments of this kind, which help companies expand their business both in terms of their geography and digitization. Their vision is impressive, and I am confident that they will be a good and constructive owner of OEG. As the biggest shareholder I consider the offered price fair, and recommend shareholders accept the offer," Karu said.
OEG runs casinos and betting establishments in six EU member states, including the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as Slovakia, Italy, and Malta. The company was founded by Armin Karu and Jaan Korpusov in 1993.
On Dec. 31, 2017, OEG owned 115 casinos and 27 betting establishments. The company employs a workforce of some 3,000 in six countries. OEG also operates online gaming and sports betting sites under the OlyBet brand.
OEG is also active in the hotel business in Tallinn, Estonia, where it owns the Hilton Tallinn Park hotel operated by Hilton Worldwide.
OEG's 2017 consolidated total revenue before gaming taxes amounted to €215.1 million, up by 4.9 percent or €10 million year over year. Total gaming revenue before gaming taxes accounted for 89.6 percent and other revenue for 10.4 percent of the group's consolidated total sales revenue in 2017. FY EBITDA totaled €47.3 million.
Odyssey Europe AS is part of Novalpina's holdings, the ultimate parent of which is Luxembourgian Novalpina Capital Group SARL. The company was founded in 2017 by Stephen Peel, Stefan Kowski, and Bastian Lueken.
Editor: Dario Cavegn
Source: BNS