Poker Operator Kindred Group Continues Growth, Acquires Red32
Kindred Group, which operates popular online poker site Unibet, agreed to acquire British gaming company 32Red for a cash offer of $219 million on Thursday.
32Red, which is licensed in Gibraltar, the U.K. and Italy, operates poker, bingo, casino and sports betting sites. Kindred paid a premium of 16 percent over the latest share price on the London Stock Exchange.
"The acquisition of 32Red is consistent with our multi-brand strategy and stated desire to grow our business in locally regulated and soon to be regulated markets," said Henrik Tjarnstrom, CEO of Kindred. "32Red is a high quality, customer-focused business with a similar culture to Kindred Group's and we are delighted to welcome 32Red and its team into the Kindred family and look forward to further developing the brand going forward."
An analyst quoted by Bloomberg said the deal is strategically and financially sound and continues the trend of mergers and acquisitions in the online gaming industry as companies attempt to deal with increasing regulation.
The acquisition of 32Red will help improve Unibet's traffic and continues an upward trend. The company rolled out a new poker client last year in what turned out to be a year of record growth.
Poker Industry PRO reported that Unibet pulled in online poker revenue of £12.5 million in 2016, a 64.4 percent year-over-year improvement.
Unibet, whose parent company changed its name to Kindred late in 2016, is currently ranked 18th on PokerScout's list of the world's most popular poker sites.
