AGTech acquires Macau Pass Holdings

AGTech Holdings has announced it has acquired the entire capital of Macau Pass Holdings Ltd for HK778m (US$100m).

Hong Kong.- The lottery service provider AGTech has announced the acquisition of Macau Pass Holdings Ltd, the company which owns 99 per cent of Macau Pass, for HK778m (US$100m). AGTech Holdings will pay $700m initially and the rest via a downward revision mechanism.

It said: “The directors are of the view that the acquisition would create tremendous synergies to the Group’s existing business, particularly for the mobile games and entertainment and supply of non-lottery hardware businesses.”

AGTech is one of the main providers of lottery terminals in the PRC and has the biggest portion of the overall industry in the games lottery terminal market. Since the first half of 2021, the company has started to supply non-lottery equipment, including retail location terminals in China’s retail market. 

Macau Pass is a company that provides services that enable retailers and other merchants to accept different payment methods. It receives a commission income for processing the payment.

AGTech revenues up 77.6% in H1

The lottery service provider has reported revenue for the first half of the current year reached HK$77.9m while its operating loss for the six-month period was approximately HK$55m, down 47.9 per cent year-on-year.

The company said the reduced loss was mainly due to the increase in total revenue and a decrease in employee benefits expenses of approximately HK$15.8m.

The company also noted growth due to lottery hardware, provision of lottery distribution and ancillary services, non-lottery hardware in PRC, and its games and entertainment business in India.

PRC lottery sales reached RMB178.4bn in the first half, up 44 per cent year-on-year, with RMB67.7bn from the Welfare Lottery, and RMB110.7bn from the Sports Lottery. 

For the first half of 2020, AGTech reported an 8 per cent drop in revenue to US$5.6m. At the time, the company said the drop was mainly due to a fall in sales of lottery hardware of approximately HK$6.6m (US$851,596), and a fall of HK$1m (US$129,028) in revenue from its games and entertainment division.