IGT Sells UK Based Barcrest

The Barcrest Group, a UK slot developer and subsidiary of the Nevada based International Game Technology (IGT), has found "an ideal new home", according to the parent group.

IGT announced that it had sold Barcrest to the lottery provider, Scientific Games this week, and the transaction would be finalised later on this year.

IGT acquired Barcrest in 1998 and has carefully developed the business, making it one of the primary providers of slot machines and game content in the UK and European markets.

Scientific Games has agreed to pay $54 million for Barcrest in net cash.

IGT stands to earn another $3 million in cash, and, depending on post-closing adjustments, could earn as much as $66 million at the end of the deal.

The Chief Executive Officer of IGT, Patti Hart said "Scientific Games is an ideal new home for Bacrest and provides a strategic alignment between both companies' core objectives."

Hart said that the sale of Barcrest would allow IGT to concentrate on other business lines.

A gaming analyst for Credit Suisse, Joel Simkins said: "We see this divestiture as another signal that IGT management is focused on exciting noncore businesses that consume recourses and have modest growth potential."

Over the past three years, replacement sales on slot machines in UK pubs, clubs and bingo halls have stalled.

The UK gaming market, according to some analysts, is comprised of low cost and low profit machines, if compared with the markets in the US and other countries.