Olympic Casino Latvia SIA, subsidiary of gambling operator Olympic Entertainment Group AS (OEG), announced that it would purchase a 100% stake in Latvian casino company SIA Garkalns and its subsidiary SIA Post-Nevada. Thus, Olympic Casino Latvia SIA would increase its presence in Latvia. Once the transaction is completed, OEG and its Latvian subsidiary would own and operate 57 gambling facilities in the country.
Currently, Garkalns and Post-Nevada run as many as 20 casinos across Latvia. Ten of those are located in the country’s capital – Riga. All 20 venues feature a total of 432 slot machines. Last year, the two companies generated revenue of €6 million and had 245 employees.
Currently, SIA Garkalns’ share capital amounts to a little less than €2 million. The parties said that they would not reveal the price of the purchase.
The transaction needs to be approved by the Latvian Competition Council in order to be completed. OEG said that the newly acquired casinos are expected to be brought in compliance with the operator’s standards within one calendar year. The properties would then be re-branded as Olympic Casino.
Prior to the announcement about the acquisition of the 20 Garkalns and Post-Nevada casinos, Olympic Casino ran a total of 37 gambling venues in Latvia. Those featured 19 gaming tables and 1,056 slot machines. OEG’s Latvia-based subsidiaries generated revenue of €48 million back in 2014 and had 679 employees. Overall, the group’s revenue amounted to €150.3 million last year. EBITDA totaled €36.2 million and net profit amounted to €21.6 million.
Furthermore, its revenue for the second quarter of this fiscal year totaled €39.2 million, up 11.9% year-on-year.
OEG said that the acquisition of the Garkalns and Post-Nevada properties was not considered a related parties transaction. In other words, it would not affect directly the group’s economic activities.
Earlier this year, the gambling operator announced that it would enter the Maltese gaming market by launching what would be the group’s largest casino. The amount of €7 million was invested in the ambitious project. The property is to spread over 2,700 square meters and would feature more than 250 slot machines, about 30 gaming tables, and a sports betting area. The casino is to open doors sometime in the second half of the year.
