Playtech to acquire Consolidated Financial Holdings

Playtech has moved to strengthen its B2B offering by agreeing a deal to acquire Consolidated Financial Holdings (CFH). The technology company offers products such as a Straight Through Processing brokerage, which provides retail brokers with multi-asset execution, prime brokerage services, liquidity and complementary risk management tools. The firm’s CFH Clearing Limited wholly owned subsidiary is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with Playtech confirming that regulatory approval has been received. As part of the agreement, Playtech will acquire 70% of CFH upon completion of the acquisition, due to take place on November 30, with the remaining 30% subject to put and call options between Playtech and CFH’s management team, which will remain with the business, and can be exercised in 2019. Meanwhile, Playtech has launched what it described as the industry’s “most cutting-edge” live casino HTML5 roulette product across its network of licensees. Users will be able to play live roulette on mobile and tablet in either portrait or landscape mode, while simultaneously seeing their bets while the roulette wheel is spinning. After the first week of its launch, Playtech said the new product has resulted in “superior player engagement levels, longer session times across all devices, and significantly increased revenues for licensees”. Playtech intends to follow up on this launch with the release of a HTML blackjack product later this year. Kevin Kilminster, head of innovation at Playtech Live, said: “We focused on roulette because it is our primary, premium game; we worked very closely with our major licensees to create what we firmly believe is the best performing product on the market. “This has been highlighted by the huge demand we had for the product just 48 hours after it launched across the network. “The response has been phenomenal with players immediately switching from our previous live roulette to our new HTML5 product and with incredible results for licensees. “Players are more engaged than they ever have been and can now enjoy the best live roulette experience on the market.” Related article: Playtech claims growth despite low market volatility