Gaming Partners International plans $5.9M acquisition

Gaming Partners International Corp. plans to purchase a subsidiary of Entertainment Gaming Corp., the companies announced Friday in a statement.

Under terms of the deal, GPIC will buy Hong Kong-based Dolphin Products Ltd.

North Las Vegas-based GPIC manufactures casino table game equipment, including chips and plaques under various brands, to casinos worldwide. Dolphin makes and distributes RFID and traditional gaming chips and plaques under the Dolphin brand to major Asian and Australian casinos.

Under the terms of a letter of intent for the deal, GPIC will acquire the assets of Dolphin, including fixed assets, raw materials and inventory and intellectual property, for a cash purchase price of about $5.9 million. The deal is subject to physical inventory counts at closing.

The asset sale represents Dolphin’s and EGT’s exit from the table game equipment business and, as part of the transaction, Dolphin and EGT will each agree not to engage in the manufacture of table game equipment to compete with GPIC, the statement noted.

The purchase price will be paid out in installments over a 24-month period after closing, officials said in the statement.

Both companies anticipated closing the transaction in May.

In addition to chips and plaques, GPIC manufactures and supplies a wide range of gaming paraphernalia — playing cards, table layouts, dice, roulette wheels, and gaming furniture and table accessories. GPIC pioneered the use of security features such as radio frequency identification device (RFID) technology in casino currency and provides RFID solutions including RFID readers, software and displays.

The company sold its offices on Industrial Road about four weeks ago and moved to office on West Cheyenne Avenue in North Las Vegas, Maricela Maciel, executive director of Global Marketing, said in an email to the Review-Journal. The local offices are strictly administrative, Maciel added.

GPIC has manufacturing facilities, warehouses and/or sales offices domestic offices in Atlantic City; Blue Springs, Missouri; and Gulfport, Mississippi. It has other offices in Macau, China; Beaune, France; and San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico.

The company employs about 700 people worldwide, Maciel said.

Share of Gaming Partners International Corp. gained 21 cents, or 2.36 percent, to close at $9.12 on Friday. Nearly 103,000 shares traded hands compared with an average volume of about 4,300 shares, according to Google finance.