GGRAsia – Aristocrat Leisure sells entire Japanese business

Aristocrat Leisure sells entire Japanese business

Jun 03, 2015 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Australia-based slot machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd has sold its Japanese units to Fields Corp, a company focused on the pachinko and pachislot industry in Japan.

The sale covers Aristocrat’s entire Japan operations, including KK Aristocrat Technologies and KK Spiky, the company said in a statement on Monday. Aristocrat Leisure had stated in April that it planned to retain its KK Spiky business. The company did not disclose in its Monday announcement the selling price for the Japanese units.

“The transaction completed concurrently with the signing of the sale and purchase agreement,” Aristocrat Leisure said. The decision follows what it described as a “strategic review” of its Japanese business.

The company had announced on April 21 that it would wind down its main Japanese unit. The Japan business had become “less relevant to Aristocrat’s predominantly recurring revenue footprint,” Toni Korsanos, Aristocrat Leisure’s chief financial officer, said in April’s statement.

KK Aristocrat was established in 1994 for the development, manufacture and sale of pachislot machines in Japan. The company has launched many hit titles such as the “Kyojin-no Hoshi” series and “Black Lagoon” series, according to Fields Corp.

Pachislot machines are a type of hybrid product incorporating elements of traditional Japanese pachinko machines – that use steel balls – and modern slot machines, with their integrated circuits. Product sales of pachislot machines are mostly in the Japanese domestic market.

In a separate statement, Fields Corp said it reached the agreement with KK Aristocrat as it “sought a way to manufacture pachislot machines” using the latter company’s assets “such as IPs, raw materials, films and software, [and] also to maintain ‘win-win’ relationship with stakeholders such as licensors of content”.

“In the future, we will release new titles as soon as possible through making the most of these assets, after establishing a cooperative relationship with existing manufacturers,” added the Japanese company.