[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1 link=same] [bsa_pro_ad_space id=2]

Skip to Content

Interactive

Spain – Spanish giant Cirsa buys Giga Games

By - 7 May 2019

According to reports emerging in local press Cirsa has just closed an acquisition that will allow it to substantially increase its size in Catalonia and operate a casino for the first time in its home community.

The gambling group told its bondholders that it has reached an agreement to acquire Giga Games System Operation from the family of Juan Lao, brother of the former owner of Cirsa.

According to local sources this operation includes the Gran Casino Costa Brava, in Lloret de Mar (Girona).
Giga Games is a game and leisure group that runs an extensive park of recreational machines located in bars and restaurants, mainly in Catalonia and the Valencian Community. The company also has dozens of gambling halls and several bingo halls. In total, the businesses acquired by Cirsa reached a turnover of €124m in 2018. This figure is equivalent to more than half of the turnover (€216m) recorded in 2017 by the Conei Corporation of which Giga Games is a subsidiary.

Juan Lao Hernández founded Conei in 1998 after separating from his brother, Manuel Lao, to whom he sold his 44 per cent share in Cirsa and kept a part of the business. According to local press this acquisition, therefore, involves reuniting the former Lao group and could mean that the two brothers have chosen to divest and sell their gaming operations to North American fund Blackstone.

Cirsa Gaming generated an operating profit of €368.8m in 2018, up 5.1 per cent from 2017, despite the strong adverse impact of the euro’s exchange rate versus other currencies in the Latin American countries where the company operates. Operating income came in at €1,469.1m, a 5.2 per cent increase over the previous financial year.

Share via
Copy link