Evolution board tells shareholders to reject Candle Lake buyout bid

Evolution's board of directors recommended on Monday that shareholders reject the mandatory cash offer from Candle Lake Limited, Kenneth Dart's investment vehicle, which bid SEK695 per share to acquire all outstanding Evolution stock and take the company private.

Candle Lake crossed the 30% ownership threshold in July after purchasing an additional 2,050,000 shares, triggering an obligation under Swedish law to bid for the remainder. The board's statement characterised the offer as a compliance exercise rather than a genuine acquisition attempt, noting that Candle Lake has indicated no plans for material changes to Evolution's operations or strategy.

Evolution described the offer price as failing to reflect fair market value. Since the announcement, Evolution's stock on Nasdaq Stockholm edged up 0.51% to SEK824.20, well above the SEK695 bid — a gap that itself constitutes a market verdict on whether the offer succeeds.

Candle Lake had previously stated that ownership above 90% would trigger a delisting from Nasdaq Stockholm. The board's recommendation makes that threshold significantly harder to reach.

The bid lands during an unsettled period for Evolution. The company recently paid a £4.75 million settlement to the UK Gambling Commission over anti-money laundering failures, and its planned $85 million acquisition of Galaxy Gaming collapsed in July after the closing period expired.

About the analyst

Sebastian Montague

Prediction Markets Trader

Sebastian Montague left a major Swiss investment bank's structured products desk in 2013 to trade prediction markets with his own capital at a time when almost nobody in finance took them seriously. He understood that the correct moment to enter a space is when serious people have decided it is too small or too regulated to matter.