May 2006
Leisure Link Holdings Limited
On 25 May 2006, Inspired Gaming Group plc ("IGG") announced its intention to list on AIM having acquired the issued share capital of the operating subsidiaries containing all of the business of our client Leisure Link Holdings Limited ("LLH"). IGG was admitted to trading on AIM on 2 June 2006 having raised £108m by way of a placing supported by £116m of senior debt facilities. Evolution Securities acted as brokers to IGG and orchestrated the formation of IGG together with LLH's existing executive management team.
IGG inherited LLH's position as leading player in the UK Server Based Gaming (SBG) market and also the leading provider of analogue machines for the leisure and gaming markets. The Group provides Open Server Based Gaming (SBG) software systems and SBG digital and networked terminals in six countries today. The Group manages over 90,000 machines across the UK, of which in excess of 17,000 are already on the SBG platform. The move to SBG allows machine operators to change games remotely, therefore increasing the revenues and useful economic life of a machine by up to about five years, as well as reducing costs through lower overheads. The Group's customer base includes pubs, bars, casinos, bingo halls, licensed betting offices, holiday parks and other out of home leisure venues. Key customers include the major pub companies and gaming companies such as William Hill and Gala Group. The Group is also the leading provider of Fixed Odds Betting terminals, Itbox skill gaming terminals, and other SBG variants.
Prior to the sale LLH and its subsidiaries had a very high level of gearing and it was a key objective of our client to change its capital structure to reach a more sustainable basis.
Canaccord Genuity was engaged by LLH in September 2005 to assist the company in recapitalising itself. Canaccord Genuity negotiated with the Group's lenders, formulated the sole strategy and executed the sale process, including the negotiations with IGG and other buyers.