evoke has announced the acquisition of New Gambling Solutions SRL, the operator of Winner.ro in Romania.
Alongside the acquisition, the gaming company has described Romania as its “fifth core market” along with the UK, Italy, Spain and Denmark, as Winner will now join its global portfolio which includes brands such as William Hill, 888 and Mr Green.
Launched in 2019, Winner has built a strong market presence “through its focused strategy to deliver innovative products, highly localised experiences, and significant local distribution through 20,000 retail deposit points”. The operator delivered approximately €19m in gross gaming revenue during the first six months of 2024.
As part of the acquisition, evoke will “inject its Romania business plus a cash consideration of €10m (on a debt-free, cash-free basis) in exchange for a 51% share in the enlarged Romania business”, bringing together 888.ro and Winner to create a NGS group with a market share of approximately 7%.
A multi-brand strategy will be operated by NGS in the region to leverage the local and global brands. evoke will own between 51% and 57% of the business based on a 2026 earn-out calculation, with the option at its sole discretion to increase ownership to 100% from the third anniversary of completion.
Subject to customary regulatory clearances, the transaction is expected to close in Q3 2024, not to impact 2024 financial leverage and is expected to enhance earnings in 2025 and beyond.
In addition, evoke noted that its previously issued FY24 guidance hasn’t changed, with H2 2024 revenue expected to grow by 5-9% and adjusted EBITDA margin expected to improve to approximately 21%.
Per Widerström, CEO of evoke, commented: “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.”
evoke has stated that the transaction aligns with its strategy to “focus on low-capital, high-impact routes to value creation”.
The company added that the deal is “expected to enhance earnings and reduce leverage for the Group in 2025 and beyond benefitting from both strong growth in the Romanian market, an effective dual-brand strategy enhancing ROI from marketing and synergies from the business combination”.
The combined Winner-888 business in Romania will be managed by the current Winner CEO, Nicklas Zajdel, who joined the business back in 2023, with its local management team of nearly 80 people to complement evoke’s approximately 500 people based in the country, as Romania is one of evoke’s strategic centres for group functions.
The business will also operate on the third-party platform Newton, benefitting from “a highly localised technology, product, and player platform”. The combination will also “leverage evoke’s scale benefits, as well as the group’s key competitive advantages of data and intelligent automation and leading distinct brands”.
With the addition of Romania, evoke is targeting a podium position in each of its now five core markets.
Zajdel stated: “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 localised approach, and competitive advantages such as our product platform, our enhanced personalisation and a 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.”
Widerström added: “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.”