GC Approves Rank Acqusition of Stride Gaming

• Rank Group to acquire Stride Gaming
• UKGC gives clearance for the deal
• Better synergy results expected as a result

Rank Group will be acquiring Stride Gaming by October 3 after the deal has received clearance from the UK Gambling Commission. The companies are due to meet at the Royal Court of Jersey on October 2.

UKGC Clears Rank Group’s Acquisition of Stride

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has given Rank Group green light to acquire bingo and casino gaming operator Stride Gaming. Rank presently holds the Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casino brands and the company submitted a buy-out offer worth $143.6 million for the buyout of Stride Gaming. The Gambling Commission has finally approved of the acquisition, allowing Rank Group to proceed with the deal.

Rank and Stride will hold a meeting on October 2 at the Royal Court of Jersey to finalize the deal. While both companies have noted that the deal would proceed at a pace determined by the court, October 3 is most likely to be the last day when Stride share can be traded.

While Stride intends to suspend its shares on October 4, the London’s Alternative Investment Market exchange will need to give an approval to completely remove the shares, which should happen by October 7.

Stride shareholders have also agreed to the deal, voting in favour of the move in July. Overall, 96.43% of all shareholder votes backed the deal whereas 3.57% pronounced themselves against it.

Moving Forward, Rank Creates ‘Genuine Scalability’

Rank Group hopes to create a new business that will achieve better synergies and scalability. When the Group first placed the offer on the table back in May, Rank argued that it would seek to merge activities to as to establish a better business model and give itself a better standing on the digital marketplace.

Rank cited over $200 million in estimated digital results following the merger, as per the company’s forecasts. Looking into the future, Rank is also hoping to knock off costs with the merger as well as use the savvy, tech and staff of Stride to boost the overall activities of the Group. 

Today is the launch of @IncEmp #NIW2019 – a week where @therankgroup will engage and equip our teams to see the benefit of #inclusion and to show our ongoing #commitment to create #inclusiveworkplaces – because #RankIncludes #ChoosetoInclude pic.twitter.com/IVy46Uqk1P

— The Rank Group Plc (@therankgroup) September 23, 2019

The Group has faced some modest financial results with sales not inching up year-over-year and operating profit dropping by 22%. Digital growth has been notable in the overall portfolio of the group, but it has still not contributed enough to boost results overall.

Operating profit stood at around $44 million YOY as of the end of June, 2019. Revenue also fell down to about $907 million from $909 million a year before.

Meanwhile, Rank Group continues to advocate a more inclusive work environment, indicated by the company’s desire to retain Stride’s team and leverage their expertise to achieve better business results.

Rank Group’s shares as of September 23 are down by 0.98% of their total value. Investors may trade shares at 179.82 GBX.