Wiadomości operatora

Germany – Gauselmann Group takes control of arcades owned by Bührmann Group

With effect from October 1, the East Westphalian Gauselmann Group is taking over control of Bührmann A + I GmbH, Play Fair Casino GmbH & Co. KG. and Gerdes Spielkonzepte GmbH & Co., which previously belonged to the Bührmann group of companies.

This means that the Gauselmann Group has secured 35 arcades and around 60 additional catering locations in Bremen and Lower Saxony, thereby increasing its presence in northern Germany.

The Bührmann Group is an owner-managed family company in the third generation and deeply rooted in the Bremen region. The group of companies, consisting of various individual companies from the Bührmann group of companies, is successfully established in the essential areas of real estate, catering, events, casinos and refrigeration logistics. Gauselmann takes over the commercial game branch of the company.

The process for the takeover negotiations had to be interrupted several times due to the pandemic and was extended over almost two years.

Dieter Kuhlmann, Board Member for Gaming Operations, said: “The Bremen region is particularly convenient for us, as we had to close many locations there in 2017 due to legal restrictions. With the acquisition of the arcades and the catering locations, we can compensate for at least some of the locations that were previously lost,.”

Detlev Graß is and will continue to be the partner and managing director of Bührmann A + I GmbH. He will remain with the company with his expertise in operational business and will continue to devote himself to the political challenges of the industry as chairman of the Northwest German Automatenverband.

Mr. Kuhlmann added: “We as a company are also pleased that we can secure around 200 jobs through the acquisition. We value the skills and experience of the individual employees and want to build on them together.” An integration team from the Gauselmann Group will guarantee a smooth transition into the Merkur family.