Candle Lake Limited, the Cayman Islands investment vehicle wholly owned by Kenneth Dart, has launched a mandatory public cash offer for Evolution AB, proposing SEK 695 per share in a deal valuing the Swedish gaming supplier at approximately SEK 131.7 billion.
The offer follows Candle Lake’s 24 July 2026 acquisition of 2,050,000 Evolution shares, which lifted its direct holding to 30.02 percent of the company’s total shares and votes, triggering the mandatory bid threshold under Chapter 3 of the Swedish Act on Public Takeovers on the Stock Market. As of the 13 August announcement, Candle Lake holds and controls 59,798,619 shares, corresponding to approximately 31.56 percent, with an additional 4,037,416 shares of financial exposure via cash-settled total return swaps bringing its total economic interest to roughly 32.04 percent.
The SEK 695 price matches Evolution’s closing share price on 24 July, representing a 1.6 percent premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average trading price through that date. It marks a 5.7 percent discount to Evolution’s closing price of SEK 737.2 on 12 August and a 3.3 percent discount to the 20-day VWAP through that same date. Based on the 129,649,358 shares not already controlled by Candle Lake, the total value of the offer to remaining shareholders is approximately SEK 90.1 billion.
Candle Lake has stated the offer is not motivated by an intention to acquire all outstanding shares, and it does not currently plan material changes to Evolution’s operations, sites, management or employment terms. The firm’s stake-building dates to mid-2024, expanding through market purchases on Nasdaq Stockholm, with 10,461,914 shares acquired in the six months preceding this announcement alone.
According to Reuters, Evolution shares were down around 1 percent by midday in Stockholm following the announcement, and Jefferies analysts said the bid does seem to imply that Candle Lake would like to own more shares in Evolution. Evolution declined to comment on the offer when contacted by the wire service. Bloomberg Law noted the bid values Evolution at less than its prevailing market capitalisation, pricing shares roughly 6 percent below Wednesday’s close.
The Swedish Securities Council granted Candle Lake an exemption from directing the offer to shareholders in certain jurisdictions under ruling AMN 2026:39. An offer document is expected around 14 August, with the acceptance period running from 17 August to 15 September and settlement targeted for 23 September. Evolution’s board is required under Nasdaq Stockholm’s Takeover Rules to issue its formal statement no later than two weeks before the acceptance period expires.
Should Candle Lake’s holding exceed 90 percent of outstanding shares, the firm intends to pursue compulsory redemption proceedings under the Swedish Companies Act and pursue delisting from Nasdaq Stockholm. Completion of the offer is conditioned solely on regulatory clearances, which Candle Lake says it currently believes have already been secured. Further detail on the mandatory offer’s mechanics and delisting implications is available in GIN’s earlier coverage of the Candle Lake bid, while Evolution’s broader regulatory exposure is tracked in GIN’s reporting on the company’s UKGC settlement.
Source: Candle Lake Limited press release via Cision
Petra Vanhoof has spent the better part of a decade following the shifting tides of gambling regulation across Europe and beyond. She came up through the compliance side of the industry before pivoting to writing, which gives her a grounded, no-nonsense perspective on the rules, loopholes, and political maneuvering that shape how operators actually do business. She is particularly drawn to the gap between what regulators say and what the market ends up doing in response.