Cherry AB acquires the Betsson betting exchange

March 6, 2005

As InfoPowa went to press this week the news was coming in that Swedish public company Cherry AB, which owns the well known online gambling turnkey provider Net Entertainment has acquired the betting exchange Betsson.com. Cherry’s board decided to convert its convertible loans and call in all options in the British Internet gaming company Betsson. The transactions will mean that Cherry will obtain 100 percent ownership of the British company.

A number of convertible loans and options are included in the agreement, in which Cherry has invested a total of Euro 3.45 million to obtain control of Betsson. Euro 3.1 million has already been paid through a combination of share purchases and convertible debenture loans. The remaining Euro 0.35 million, will be paid in cash. Through the redeemed options Cherry will also acquire the remaining 29 percent of Betsson at market value, to be determined by a valuation from two independent external parties.

Cherry will be reorganising its Internet gaming operations as a consequence of the new acquisition. Shareholdings in companies that run Internet gaming operations are to be held in a new area of operations called Cherry Online. The Net Entertainment subsidiary, which is purely a development company, will be accounted for separately.

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