Playtech to acquire assets from ACM Group

Playtech has today (Wednesday) announced that it has agreed a deal to acquire technology, intellectual property and certain customer assets from ACM Group.

Under the deal, a team from ACM, known in the industry as ‘Alpha’, will join the TradeTech Group, while the brand TradeTech Alpha will also be created to deliver bespoke risk management and trading solutions to B2B customers.

In addition, the Playtech financials division will now be renamed as TradeTech Group, in order to better reflect the capabilities of the businesses within the division and align its brand recognition.

The total consideration for the agreement is capped at $150m (€127.6m), with Playtech to make a series of payments.

Consideration for the acquisition comprise an initial up-front payment of $5m (€4.3m); two staged payments based on 1 x EBITDA of both 2017 and 2018; contingent consideration based on 5.2 x EBITDA in 2019, minus the initial payment and 2017 and 2018 payments.

Ron Hoffman, chief executive of Playtech’s ‘TradeTech Group’ financials division, said: “This is a significant step in the evolution of TradeTech; the financial trading industry is driven by the core capabilities of platform technology, customer acquisition and retention, CRM management, and financial trading and risk management expertise.

“The acquisition of Alpha’s high-quality technology and teams of industry experts will significantly deepen our expertise in trading and risk management, allowing TradeTech Group to offer a full turnkey solution to B2B clients across the industry.”

Muhammad Al-Amin Rasoul, chief executive of Alpha, added: “This is a natural fit for Alpha; the strength of TradeTech Group’s management team and asset base will provide us with a platform to grow our offering with TradeTech Alpha.

“Not only does TradeTech offer everything that you need for a complete B2B solution for brokers, but you can get that solution from the most financially secure company in the industry.

“We could not be happier to join the family and start this next exciting chapter at TradeTech Group with the newly launched TradeTech Alpha brand.”

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