ComeOn Group, based in Malta, reportedly holds a valuation of around €500 million. According to the reports, this is 8x to 9x its €60 million EBITDA forecast for 2025.
Cherry AB owns both restaurant gaming venues in Sweden and online B2B game developer Yggdrasil.
One source confirmed the plans to iGB. It notes that they’re not sure anyone strategic buys ComeOn, but it must be killing Bridgepoint to keep owning it.
As part of a consortium, private equity giant Bridgepoint made an offer to Cherry last December 2018. It bid $1 billion at the time and subsequently delisted the Swedish gaming group from Nasdaq.
At the time of the bid, Mika Herold, Bridgepoint partner said that they believe that many of the opportunities and challenges facing Cherry and its subsidiaries are easier to approach in a private setting and with a more favorable capital structure.
Sweden is one of the operator’s primary markets. Yet, the source told iGB that the market regulating in 2019 hit the business hard.
According to the source, subsequent tightening of restrictions in Germany have also impacted Cherry AB’s online operations and it has sought to sell of Yggdrasil in the past. Nonetheless, it has not received any satisfactory offers.
Cherry will likely initiate an auction later this 2024, Reuters reports the talks are at a very early stage.
ComeOn operates 15 brands. This includes ComeOn, Mobilebet, and Getlucky. It received a license to expand into the Dutch online gambling market in September 2022. In the online market of Sweden, it is an important name.
