Aristocrat acquires Playtech, an online gaming software supplier with an office in Kyiv, for $3.7 billion

Aristocrat, an Australian gambling machine manufacturer, bought Playtech with Estonian and Israeli origin in order to consolidate the assets. The price agreed by the parties is A$5 billion ($3.7 billion), reported Bloomberg. The Sydney-based company will raise A$1.3 billion ($960 million) in a share sale to fund the acquisition.

What do we know about Aristocrat?

The Australian publisher is one of the TOP 5 social casino market players. In Ukraine, Aristocrat Leisure Limited is known since 2017, after it purchased the Israeli game publisher Plarium with offices in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odesa for $500 million. Moreover, since 2018, in Ukraine works the office of Product Madness, the company Aristocrat bought in 2012; and it was the Australian publisher’s starting point to enter the social media casino games market.

What do we know about Playtech?

The world’s largest online gaming software supplier Playtech was founded in 1999 by the Israeli entrepreneur Teddy Sagi. Less than a month ago, there was an attempt on his life in Cyprus. According to the investigators, his Russian business partners were behind this attentat. But at the moment of Aristocrat acquisition, he wasn’t the primary shareholder anymore — in 2018, Sagi reduced his share from 81% to 4,6% to concentrate on real estate investments.

Playtech arose in Ukraine as an outstaff office within Ciklum in 2011 and was later reorganized in the standalone R&D office. According to DOU, it has 680 employees effective July 2021.

How will this deal affect the Ukrainian office?

Likely, it won’t. The previous deal of Aristocrat in Ukraine was organized by the Plarium owners Ilya Turpiashvili and another partner who were the only beneficiaries, said the informed source of AIN.UA. After that, they founded WhaleApp. There were offered bonuses for Plarium employees not to leave the company until the deal is completed and long-term bonuses for KPI performance in 2 years. Thanks to this deal, Playtech’s shares rose by 59%. Whether it will affect the Playtech workers in Ukraine now or in the future, the AIN.UA editors couldn’t find out.