Supplier News
Latvia – Olympic doubles Latvian slot estate
By Phil - 3 July 2013
Estonian-born operator Olympic Entertainment Group has bought Latvian operator SIA Altea increasing its estate in the country by almost 50 per cent.
Altea owned some 17 slots halls operating under the brand Halle Jackpots. Nine of the venues are located in Riga with eight outside of the Latvian capital. In total the deal adds 345 slots to Olympic’s Latvia portfolio. Altea generated Gross Gaming Revenue of €3m, a round a tenth of what Olympic generated last year in the Latvian market. Employing some 138 people, Altea was run by two main shareholders; one from Poland and one from Peru.
The deal makes absolute sense for Olympic as Latvia accounted for 46 per cent of the company’s operating profit in 2012, generating €13.2m out of the total of €28.4m.
Olympic Board Chairman Madis Jaager said: “OEG group company Siquia Holding B.V. has acquired 100 per cent shareholding in Latvian casino operator SIA Altea in a transaction that almost doubles the number of casinos that OEG owns in Latvia to 38. The parties agreed not to disclose the price of the transaction. The newly acquired casinos will be brought into compliance with the quality standards of OEG within one year, after which they will be rebranded as Olympic Casino.”
Before buying Altea, Olympic Casino had 21 casinos in Latvia with 676 slot machines and 24 gaming tables.
Olympic did not comment on market speculation that it is preparing to enter Quebec in Canada with a similar acquisition.
