Japanese pachislot and gaming supplier Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. announced plans to transfer 85.1 percent of its shares in Tokyo-based amusement center subsidiary Sega Entertainment to amusement machine company Genda. The price has not been disclosed.
Sega Sammy is withdrawing from domestic game center business within a year of the sale, according to a report in Inside Asian Gaming. Revenue in the amusement centers is off sharply due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the sale, Sega Sammy’s voting rights ratio in Sega Entertainment (Tokyo) will be 14.9 percent.
“As amusement center operations in the entertainment contents business is strongly affected by Covid-19, utilization of facilities has declined remarkably and a significant loss was recorded in 1Q of the fiscal year ending March 2021,” Sega Sammy said in a statement. “In addition, despite the recent recovery trend, the situation remains uncertain.
“We have been considering various options in order to adapt to these changes in business aiming for improvement of the profitability and early recovery of sales of the amusement center operations area.
“In this process, we have been discussing the transfer of Sega Entertainment (Tokyo) shares to Genda, a company that has a strong desire to expand its amusement center operations business and has decided to conclude the share transfer agreement at a board of directors meeting…
“Accordingly, we reduce the book value of non-current assets and others held by Sega Entertainment (Tokyo) to the recoverable amount through transfer of shares, and will record this reduced amount of JPY20 billion (US$191.3 million) as extraordinary losses for the fiscal year ending March 2021.”
