Inspired Entertainment has made an offer worth $370m to acquire supplier PlayAGS. The story was reported by Reuters but AGS has since confirmed it received an offer from a third party.
Inspired specialises in virtual machines and the potential purchase would diversify and add to its stock.
The reported offer equates to about $10 per share in PlayAGS. Previously its shares had been priced at $6 before reports of the upcoming deal were made public – this valuation then jumped to $7.52. PlayAGS has confirmed its receipt of a sales proposal, while Inspired has not commented on the matter.
However, Inspired has recently made it clear it was ready to foray into the field of marketing and acquisitions (M&A). Inspired Entertainment CFO Stewart Baker said that the company was actively looking into M&A during a call made last Wednesday.
In this call, Baker commented: “We are certainly willing to use capital for M&A if it’s something that strategically fits with what we are trying to do. And there seem to be a lot of things around right now presenting themselves as possibilities.”
Las Vegas-based PlayAGS makes gaming tables and interactive solutions for gaming operators. Backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management, it went public in 2018 before seeing its business being hit hard by the pandemic.
The company is worth just a fifth of what it was valued at in 2019, largely due to the restrictions in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite these setbacks, PlayAGS did beat analyst estimates in its quarterly results last week, reporting $76.6m in revenue for the period.
Inspired Entertainment, meanwhile, is a long-established provider in the electronic gaming industry, with more than 50,000 machines located in pubs, betting shops, gaming halls and other options worldwide. It operates in 35 gaming jurisdictions worldwide, supplying digital games for over 170 websites.
