TALLINN - The Olympic Entertainment Group announced last week that its Romanian subsidiary has signed a deal to buy three casinos in Romania for 60 million kroons (3.8 million euros), the company's first acquisitions in the prospective Balkan market.
According to the deal, the group's subsidiary, Olympic Casino Bucharest, which was established at the end of March, will take over the three Bucharest-based casinos from Empire International Game World. One of the casinos is the high-end Napoleon casino located in the Sofitel hotel, while the other two are slot machine casinos also in the downtown area.
Romania joined the European Union in January.
Payments for the three venues will be made in three installments, the company said.
The Olympic Group said it would invest in all three gambling halls to bring them in line with the Estonian company's standards and that the trademark of all three would change accordingly.
The announcement was made just three days after the group stated that it had received approval for a long-awaited deal for acquiring Estonia's Kristiine Kasino. The deal had required a green light by the Estonian Competition Board since it now gives the Olympic Group over 40 percent control of the slot machine market in Estonia.
The Olympic Entertainment Group is the biggest gaming company in the Baltic states, holding a 39 percent share of the Estonian market, a 55 percent share in Lithuania and 15 percent in Latvia. It also has operations in Ukraine and Belarus and has signed a preliminary agreement on acquiring a casino operator in Poland.
