NYSE-listed games machine manufacturer and distributor PlayAGS has disclosed to markets that it has become an M&A target of gaming technology firm Inspired Entertainment Inc. 

This weekend, PlayAGS confirmed to US media that Inspired Entertainment had submitted a $10 per share cash offer to acquire the business at a proposed valuation of $370m.

Inspired has yet to confirm its interest, whilst PlayAGS maintained that a deal was in ‘preliminary discussions’ with the caveat that no transaction could be certain.

Earlier last week, Inspired CFO Stewart Baker had disclosed during an analyst call that the company was “actively looking at a number of M&A activities”.

“We are certainly willing to use capital for M&A if it’s something that strategically fits with what we are trying to do,” Baker told investors. “There seem to be a lot of things around right now presenting themselves as possibilities.”

A deal is viewed as highly likely, as Apollo Global Management-backed PlayAGS has seen its corporate valuation decline five-fold since its 2018 IPO on the NYSE.

2020 and 2021 saw PlayAGS’ commercial pipeline severely impacted due to the restrictions in place amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with the casino gaming industry and its vendors hit particularly hard. 

 Inspired is reported to be eyeing a discounted acquisition of PlayAGS that will see the technology group bolster its gaming manufacturing unit and interactive solution for North American casino partners.