Games Global sounds retreat on US IPO plan

Games Global, one of the largest gambling companies in the world, has said that it would not go through with a plan to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the United States, several weeks after the company confirmed its intention. The online casino game maker said that it had come to rethink its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for the time being, a day before the IPO was expected to take place.

The original IPO was due on Tuesday, May 14, but Games Global cancelled those plans on Monday as part of a Withdrawal of Registration statement. The Isle of Man-based company was hoping to fetch a valuation of at least $2.13bn through this move, but has put the plan on the backburner, citing "current market conditions," which suggests that the company had not been satisfied with the anticipated interest in the move, in all likelihood pointing to missing the hoped-for target.

Games Global was hoping to raise as much as $275.5m from the move, ahead of an initially believed amount of $100m, emitting 14.5m shares, selling them at $16-$19 per share. Yet, this will have to wait as the company is now going to keep an eye on the market before it decides if and when to relaunch its IPO plans. The company offers more than 1,300 games developed to offer the iGaming world something for every taste.

In the meantime, Games Global did confirm that it had paid all fees to the US Securities and Exchange Commission connected with the filing of the Registration Statement, and that it could use this in the future, without specifying an exact date. The decision to postpone the IPO could be rooted in the fact that Games Global is not expecting its gambling stock to excite as much interest as some of its competitors.

DraftKings and FanDuel’s own stock is up 29% and 17% respectively this year, but the two operators virtually dominate the US iGaming and sports betting market. Games Global, though, is a supplier so it will operate on different length waves and could actually benefit from the success of top-performing operators in the US.

Games Global was set to debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the GGL ticker symbol, a plan that has not been entirely overturned as things stand.

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