M&A alert. Stillfront acquires eRepublik Labs

Stillfront Group AB (“Stillfront”) announced the acquisition of 100 percent of the shares in eRepublik Labs Limited (“eRepublik”) from Alexis Bonte, Gergat Trading Limited (owned by Alain Bonte), funds managed by IDinvest Partners SA (the “majority shareholders”) and a number of minority shareholders (the “minority Shareholders”).

Completion of the acquisition is expected to occur around June 27. Upon completion of the acquisition, EUR 7.5 million will be paid to the Sellers, of which EUR 4 million is payable in cash and the remaining EUR 3.45 million is payable in 441,233 newly issued shares in Stillfront.

eRepublik, based in Dublin, Ireland, and Bucharest, Romania was co-founded in 2007 by Alexis Bonte (CEO) and George Lemnaru. Bonte has a strong track record of corporate achievements from a number of internet companies including lastminute.com and as an executive in Residence (XiR) at leading global venture capital firm Atomico. eRepublik owns all shares in ERPK LABS S.R.L., a company based in Bucharest, Romania (the “Subsidiary” and jointly with eRepublik, the “Companies” or the “Group”).

The Group currently has 34 staff and had revenue in excess of EUR 2.5 mln in 2016 and EUR 0.9 million during the period January 2017 – March 2017, with approx. 20 percent operating margin.

Stillfront will provide a loan to eRepublik in the amount of EUR 500,000 to facilitate eRepublik’s repayment of debt. The loan will be granted on market terms.

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Jörgen Larsson (photo), CEO, Stillfront Group, says: “eRepublik fits perfectly into Stillfront’s strategy PLEX by broadening Stillfront’s portfolio of studios and games with characteristics that drives long term gamer retention. The acquisition forms an important part of the realization of Stillfront’s growth strategy. It is with pleasure I today welcome Alexis and the whole team at eRepublik to the Stillfront family”.

Alexis Bonte says: “I am enthusiastic about eRepublik merging with Stillfront. We share the same goals and vision and I am convinced that this will add great strategic value to both companies, by becoming part of a larger family that reinforces our position both on the global and local markets”

The Stillfront Group develops and publishes the game ‘eRepublik.com’, a browser based free-to-play strategy game launched in 2008. The Group also develops and publishes the games ‘Age of Lords’ (launched in 2015).