Estonia, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies, Mergers and take-overs

"By combining the strengths of our international online gaming brand OlyBet and the newly acquired company Orakulas, we will undoubtedly become a key player in Lithuania's online betting and gaming market," Saulius Petravicius, OEG's managing director for Lithuania, said in a press release on Wednesday.

The transaction is yet to be approved by the Lithuanian Competition Council, OEG said in a statement published on the Nasdaq Baltic stock exchange.

Orakulas' shareholders decided in late August to increase the company's authorized share capital by 868,400 euros to 1.158 million euros through an issue of 29,987 new ordinary registered shares with a nominal value of 28.96 euros each.

Swiss-registered Mutter Asset Management, which held a 35% stake in Orakulas before the new issue, was then given the right to purchase all of the new shares. Orakulas CEO Erikas Vainikonis owned the remaining 65% of shares.

Founded in 2003, Orakulas has 35 betting shops in Lithuania and holds a 21% share of the betting market. The company last year posted 53.034 million euros in revenue, up 9.7% from 48.362 million euros in 2013. It turned a net profit of 39,600 euros for 2014, versus a net loss of 88,200 euros the previous year.

OEG's Lithuanian branch, which operates under the name of Olympic Casino, has 18 casinos with 64 gaming tables and 556 slot machines. The company's revenue in Lithuania for January through September edged down by 2.1% year-on-year to 16 million euros.

OEG's total revenue for the nine months of this year rose by 9.6% year-on-year to 121 million euros, of which 93.9% came from gaming operations.