Cherry secures majority stake in Highlight Games

Cherry has secured a majority shareholding in Highlight Games by splashing out £5.4m to increase its stake by 22.9% to 60.4%.

The shareholding increase comes 15 months after Cherry first made its move to invest in the gaming specialist, snapping up 25% of the technology company. In November, Cherry increased its stake to 37.5%.

Anders Antonsson, Cherry’s head of investor relations and communications, would not be drawn on whether the company intends to complete a 100% buy-out of Highlight.

Antonsson told iGamingBusiness.com: “We are pleased with the status as the principle holder, and any potential changes in the shareholder structure will be communicated in a press release.”

Of the 22.9% acquired by Cherry, to become the majority shareholder, 15.1% was from “parties not active in the company”.

Having secured the takeover by holding more than 50 per cent of the company, Highlight has been consolidated within Cherry’s game development division.

Highlight offers a patented product together with multi-year rights to use footage from inter-alia historic football matches to create unique virtual sports content.

Highlight’s Soccerbet game is in the process of being deployed into several African countries, while Highlight will also be launching in Italy through Eurobet.

“Looking ahead, the company is exploring a number of new opportunities across several sports in emerging markets, with its innovative sports product uniquely using archive live-action sports footage,” Cherry said.

Last month, Cherry secured a sports betting licence in Poland, where it plans to launch a completely new brand.

The Stockholm-listed company is also planning to secure a licence in the re-regulated Swedish market, which will open up on January 1, 2019.