Azerion learned to go public and implement its role as a European powerhouse in the digital entertainment industry. The company that manages social gaming platforms and also active in the digital advertising market will arrive next February on the Amsterdam list following the definitive agreement for a business combination with EFIC1, a Spac (acronym for Special purpose acquisition company), launched last March by former Commerzbank CEO Martin Blessing. Once the operation is completed, the company that will be listed on the Euronext list will be called Azerion Group, with the start of trading expected at the beginning of February 2022. When we talk about Spac we mean a newly established company that is listed in Stock exchange with the intention of allocating the funds raised on the market to a company with high growth potential (in this case Azerion, which is in turn listed by merger) which is provided with the resources needed to finance development projects.
“EFIC1 was formed with the intention of joining a fast growing, profitable and active European champion in the technology sector who could benefit from our team’s experience, expertise and public market listing – says Martin Blessing, number one of EFIC1 -. Having worked extensively with Azerion’s management over the past six months, we believe we have found exactly the resource we were looking for ”. Atilla Aytekin, co-founder and co-CEO of Azerion, underlines, however, that “this business combination and the subsequent listing of Azerion will not only give us access to the capital markets, but will also help us improve our company profile”.
The details of the agreement
With an enterprise value of 1.3 billion euros, the corporate merger between Azerion and EFIC1 aims to strengthen the positioning of the former as a European powerhouse in the digital entertainment sector. In particular, thanks to the operation with EFIC1, Azerion will be able to leverage the opportunities present in the digital entertainment and digital advertising markets and will allow the company to invest in the development of innovative technologies such as augmented / virtual reality, blockchain and innovative programmatic advertising. .
Since its inception Azerion, which was founded in 2014 by Dutch entrepreneurs Umut Akpinar and Atilla Aytekin, has achieved significant growth both internally and externally (over 40 acquisitions completed since 2015). And the operation should provide the new company with up to 313 million euros of financial resources, which will be used to make new acquisitions and to support investments for the creation of new games and the development of functions and platforms in the field. augmented and virtual reality, blockchain and programmatic advertising.
Strong growth expected in revenues
Looking at the recent financial results, Azerion closed 2020 with revenues that rose to 195 million euros compared to 127 million in 2018, while the adjusted Ebitda went from 8 to 26 million in 2020. For the year 2021 , Azerion’s revenues are expected to amount to at least 290 million (not taking into account the pro forma effect of acquisitions completed in 2021) and for 2022, organic revenues are expected to be at least 450 million. The company specifies, however, that the turnover targets “do not take into account any contribution from any future acquisitions, which are expected to constitute the main use of the proceeds of the business combination”.