Fagerlund exits as CEO of Global Gaming
Online gambling operator Global Gaming has announced that Tobias Fagerlund has left his role as chief executive of the business with immediate effect. Global’s chair Niklas Braathen said that while Fagerlund had been based in Stockholm – where he was the operator’s only employee – the business needed leadership based in Estonia or Malta, where its operating units are based.
Fagerlund (pictured) was named as acting chief executive of Global Gaming in April 2019, before taking up the position on a permanent basis in July that year.
Though Fagerlund will vacate the role immediately, Global Gaming said that he will remain at the disposal of both the operator and its board.
Board member Christian Rasmussen will step into the role on a temporary basis while it seeks a permanent replacement.
Global Gaming chairman Braathen praised Fagerlund for the part that he played in helping to growth the business, but also said that his departure of is in line with the operator’s “new phase”.
“It is my opinion that Tobias during his time as CEO led Global Gaming in a very meritorious way,” Braathen said. “Tobias has implemented a large package of restructuring measures and shown evidence of a strong and clear leadership that was absolutely necessary for the company.
“Tobias has thus with great success laid a good foundation for Global Gaming’s future operations. Now, however, the company is facing a new phase and we have identified a number of measures necessary to further strengthen the company’s position.
Confirmation of Fagerlund’s departure comes as it was also also revealed that Global Gaming has become the subject of a formal takeover offer by Enlabs.
Latvia-facing Enlabs last month acquired a further tranche of shares in Global Gaming – following an earlier purchase of shares in June – with the latest deal triggering the threshold for it to make a bid to acquire the business outright.
Enlabs acquired 9,878,086 shares in Global Gaming in August, increasing its stake in the operator to 54.1%. The deal that meant it was obliged to make a public offer to acquire the remaining shares of the business within four weeks.
Since this acquisition, Enlabs has secured additional shares in Global Gaming to boost its overall ownership stake to 66.7%, but will now proceed with a full takeover offer, in line with the previous agreement.
The takeover talks come on the back of a mixed first half of the year for Global Gaming, during which it was able to reduce its losses, but also saw its revenue decline 55.9% year-on-year due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Revenue for the six months through to 30 June reached SEK129.7m, down from SEK294.3m in the same period last year, but net loss amounted to SEK53.3m, an improvement on a loss of SEK122.0m at the same point in 2019.