Aristocrat Technologies Incorporated completes social acquisition

Less than three months after concluding its $500 million acquisition of Israeli firm Plarium Global Limited and Aristocrat Technologies Incorporated has now reportedly announced the completion of its $990 million all-cash takeover of fellow social online games developer Big Fish Games Incorporated. According to a report from the Brisbane Times newspaper, the most recent deal means that Las Vegas-based Aristocrat Technologies Incorporated, which is a subsidiary of Australian gaming machine innovator Aristocrat Leisure Limited, is now the world’s second largest provider of social online games behind Playtika. The newspaper reported that Seattle-headquartered Big Fish Games Incorporated, which has been owned by American casino operator Churchill Downs Incorporated since 2014, has developed a catalogue of almost 4,000 mobile and desktop games including its popular Gummy Drop!, Fairway Solitaire and Big Fish Casino titles. The firm, established in 2002, also purportedly has offices in Oakland, California and Luxembourg with its innovations enjoyed by in excess of 12.4 million players every month. In a brief statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Trevor Croker, Chief Executive Officer for Aristocrat Technologies Incorporated, reportedly declared that the ‘strategic and financial benefits’ of acquiring Big Fish Games Incorporated were ‘highly compelling’. “Big Fish Games Incorporated’s digital-first social casino content and industry-leading meta-game capability and applications are highly complementary to [our] existing and industry-leading land-based digital content business,” reportedly read the statement from Croker. The Brisbane Times reported that Aristocrat Leisure Limited first revealed its intention to buy Big Fish Games Incorporated in November while the completion of the acquisition means that its digital business has now doubled in size to account for some 38% of all revenues. “Big Fish Games Incorporated will immediately provide scale across our entire digital platform and our social casino business will become the second largest social casino publisher globally,” reportedly read the statement from Croker.