Mentioned in this article
- Last week, Enthusiast Gaming announced the completion of the business transaction with J55 Capital, Luminosity Gaming, and Aquilini GameCo.
- Enthusiast Gaming acquired a non-controlling stake in the OWL’s Vancouver Titans which it manages, based on a long-term services agreement with the team’s owner.
- Enthusiast Gaming will own and field a Seattle-based team in Activision Blizzard’s newly franchised Call of Duty esports league.
Last week, Luminosity Gaming parent company Enthusiast Gaming Holdings announced that it had completed its previously announced business transaction with J55 Capital Corp, Luminosity Gaming, and Aquilini GameCo. The business combination resulted in the formation of the esports and gaming media organization Enthusiast Gaming Holdings, which is trading on the Canadian TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) under the ticker EGLX.
Following a $25M USD subscription receipt financing in March, Aquilini GameCo (an Aquilini Investment group subsidiary) performed a reverse takeover to acquire J55 Capital Corp, a shell company that was publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) Venture Exchange on Aug. 8.
Subsequently, J55 Capital Corp created a wholly-owned subsidiary (11305751 Canada Inc.) and performed a three-cornered amalgamation with esports organization Luminosity Gaming. The three-cornered amalgamation is a process in which Luminosity Gaming and 11305751 Canada merged to become one company, and with that, J55 Capital Corp took control of the freshly merged company as its parent company. This step was necessary to comply with Canadian law, as the companies involved are incorporated under different business corporations statutes.
On Sep. 9, Enthusiast Gaming, a Canadian digital media company founded in 2014 by Menashe Kestenbaum, merged with J55 Capital. In connection with the transactions, J55 Capital Corp changed its name to Enthusiast Gaming Holdings, while the old Enthusiast Gaming entity changed its name to Enthusiast Gaming Properties and had its shares delisted from the TSXV.
The Aquilini Group is creating synergies within its sports and gaming portfolio through service agreements between its assets. Enthusiast Gaming has a long-term management services agreement with the Overwatch League franchise Vancouver Titans to manage the team owned by the Aquilini Group.
Furthermore, Enthusiast is party to a long-term services support agreement with Vancouver Arena LP which will provide Enthusiast Gaming with a broad range of marketing and business support services including corporate partnership and selling support, retail support, esports planning and execution, digital and social media support, and back-office support, as well as brand association and marketing support which is to be provided by NHL franchise Vancouver Canucks owner Canucks Sports and Entertainment.
“Our vision when we founded Enthusiast was to build the largest, vertically integrated esports and gaming company in the world. The merger with Aquilini GameCo and Luminosity was a strategic decision that positions us as a dominant player in the gaming industry and unlocks access to Luminosity’s 60 million dedicated esports fans and one of the largest esports franchises,” commented Menashe Kestenbaum, president of Enthusiast Gaming in a release. “I look forward to working with our new partners to continue to build and diversify Enthusiast Gaming across the esports, gaming and entertainment sectors.”
Last week, Enthusiast Gaming also announced that it had reached an agreement with Activision Blizzard to own and field a Seattle-based franchise in the newly franchised Call of Duty esports league through is wholly-owned subsidiary Luminosity Gaming. Furthermore, the company announced that it acquired a non-controlling stake in the Vancouver Titans from the team’s majority owner, the Aquilini Investment Group.
