We reported recently that Buckingham Bingo was to be sold off as finance specialists KPMG were called in to assess the viability of the company and how best to move forwards. It was no secret in the industry that offers were invited in pursuit of a sale and it had been hoped that someone would step in and buy the whole company. Sources suggested that there were a number of bids and even members of the board who had been running the troubled company had been interested if they could find a financial backer.

It seems after considering the offers made in relation to the company that the decision has been made to sell the assets to multiple buyers, which given the state of the industry and the fact that there is a greater supply of clubs on the market than there are buyers comes as no surprise. In fact given the tremendous write-downs in values associated with the likes of Gala Bingo, Buckingham Bingo, Beacon Bingo and Top Ten over recent years financial institutions are likely to be rather nervous when it comes to lending large amounts of money in pursuit of buying up large bingo companies.

Breaking the company up therefore seems the sensible thing to do and no doubt will retun the most amount of money to the owners. Reports have claimed that there are a series of deals that are likely to be agreed over the coming weeks with Praesepe believed to be interested in buying the larger share. Other bingo operators in the UK are also thought to be series contenders for a number of the clubs.

“There has been a variety of bidders and January could see one or more deals concluded,” said one source.

Any purchases by Praesepe would see it as one of the fastest growing gaming companies. In April we reported how it had purchased the Beacon Bingo estate which included 26 adult gaming centres and 6 bingo clubs, amongst which was the club in Cricklewood, for around £45 million.

Ironically the two family run companies, Beacon Bingo and Buckingham, were originally sold with similar price tags and at similar times both now find themselves sold again within 12 months of each other and this time maybe to the same buyer.

About Buckingham Bingo

While Buckingham Bingo was a thriving company and an elite operator within the bingo industry up until a few years ago the company has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons – mostly to do with the extensive debts it has associated with it. Unfortunately the company has been unable to deal with its debts and failed to become a success and investors have suffered the consequences.

The company which was sold to Alchemy Partners in 2005 for £90m is expected to be worth a fraction of that amount today.

Buckingham Bingo was founded by Panico Panayi around 40 years ago. It has 9 purpose built bingo clubs and is the largest independent bingo operator in the north of England. It was sold to Alchemy Partners when the industry peaked in 2005 for £90m. This was roughly the same time that Beacon Bingo was sold for £100m. Following the smoking ban and changes in legislation the value of the company plummeted and Alchemy were given the choice to inject significant amounts of cash into the business or write off their stake leaving Barclays in full control of the company. Alchemy went with the latter and Barclays Ventures was handed control.

About Praesepe Plc

Praesepe plc was formed in 2007 with a mandate from shareholders to acquire or develop businesses in the ‘Low stake High volume’ gaming market in the UK and Europe. The first 'AGC' acquisition was completed in July 2008 and has since been rebranded and relaunched as Cashino. Further acquisitions were made in 2009.

The group continues to monitor suitable acquisitions although it is adopting a selective approach. It claims any acquisitions are likely to be significantly earnings enhancing but are likely to involve the issue of additional equity. Specific areas of interest are Gaming machines, Cash Bingo and Sports Betting and the company state they will also consider on-line gaming.