Enlabs acquires majority stake in Shogun Group

Baltics-facing igaming operator Enlabs has acquired a 66.5% stake in Shogun Group, a Maltese online gaming business, for a total consideration of €664,000 (£614,243/$789,116).

The business is described as having just moved out of its ‘start-up stage’, and Enlabs has acquired its stake from a consortium of investors in the business, with its founders holding the remaining 33.5%. As part of the agreement, it will also invest €1m in Shogun.

It will have the opportunity to acquire the remaining stake in the business in January 2023, for a multiple of five times the business’ net profit.

Following the acquisition, Shogun will be migrated from its current third-party platform to Enlabs’ proprietary technology, as well as integrating its BetX sportsbook and gaining access to the operator’s full range of technology and support services.

“The collaboration with Enlabs and the fact that we are now part of Enlabs' organisation ensures we can accelerate our business growth, and in addition to this we see scope for new opportunities via Enlabs,” Shogun Group co-founder Eric Holmberg said. “This is a big step for us, and we confidently look to the future for Shogun.”

Enlabs chief executive George Ustinov added that the investment in Shogun Group would act as an “excellent complement” to the business’ other operations, and accelerate its expansion into new markets.

“We now have new brands and a competent sales team with experience from global markets,” Ustinov said. “We will get a good testing platform for our technology and thus the opportunity to be able to develop it more rapidly.

“Enlabs is taking a step forward with the aim of becoming a more global online operator.”

The acquisition comes as the business prepares to make an offer to acquire Global Gaming, having increased its stake in the Ninja Casino operator to 54.06% last month.

This triggers the threshold at which it must make a public offer to acquire the remaining shares in the business within four weeks. It plans to offer Global’s remaining shareholders the opportunity to transfer their holdings to Enlabs at a price of SEK11 per Global Gaming share.

This represents a 34% premium on the operator’s average trading price over the 90 days to 27 August, and is not open for negotiation.