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Billionaire’s son takes up the fight for the future of Ainsworth

May 12, 2025 – 2.00pm

More than seven years have passed since billionaire poker machine king Len Ainsworth sold a majority stake in his namesake company to Austrian family business Novomatic. That deal, worth $500 million, ended his affiliation with Ainsworth Game Technology and gave Novomatic the chance to grow its presence in the United States.
The Ainsworth family has barely uttered a word about the company since 2018, even as shares in AGT slumped more than 55 per cent. But an attempt by Novomatic to take full control of the business has changed that.
Now Kjerulf Ainsworth, the sixth son of Len, has emerged as the company’s second-biggest shareholder, with a 12 per cent stake and the help of his mother. And he has a plan to stop the takeover.

“We’ve got money to go and throw some serious punches,” Ainsworth told The Australian Financial Review. “It’s hard not to be motivated if you see two- or three-dozen shareholders all getting stiffed.”
In April, AGT told investors that Novomatic would acquire the 47.1 per cent of the business it did not already own for $1 per share. The bid was a 35 per cent premium on the company’s last closing share price before the offer, giving it an enterprise value of $336.5 million.

However, the offer outraged minority shareholders, such as Spheria Asset Management, Kanen Wealth Management and Allan Gray, who claimed it was an opportunistic bid by Novomatic and not an acceptable price. They have accused AGT of depressing the share price and misleading investors about the company’s true value.
Now they have an ally in Ainsworth, 58, who lives in Switzerland and describes himself as a private investor. “We were feeling down on the stock just like everybody else was, until we worked out what was going on. Now we can see that it almost looks like a little bit of a ploy to manufacture the circumstances where the stock appears cheap.”
He believes AGT’s shares should be trading closer to $3.
The intervention by Ainsworth is personal as much as it is business. “I said to my mother, this company has our name on it. We’ve been involved in the industry a long time. There’s some sort of family legacy feeling about it all, in addition to generally setting things straight.”
His father, Len, who is worth $5.9 billion according to the Financial Review Rich List, started not just one, but two of the world’s biggest poker machine manufacturing companies – Aristocrat Leisure and AGT. He is now almost 102 and has nothing to do with either company.
Aristocrat Leisure has grown to become a $26 billion company, but AGT pales in comparison.

Novomatic’s bid for AGT is being made via a scheme of arrangement, which requires at least 75 per cent of the shares cast on the resolution to be successful. Novomatic is not allowed to cast its shares.
Ainsworth’s position is enough to defeat the scheme of arrangement and makes it difficult for the alternative takeover bid.

AGT’s board has also supported an alternative takeover of the company at $1 per share if the scheme is not supported. Such a move would require Novomatic to convince 22 per cent of the register to tender shares at $1 each.
Ainsworth has held a small stake in AGT for several years. However, since last month, he has spent more than $12 million buying more shares to lift his holding from about 2.2 per cent to 4.99 per cent.
He has formed a group with his mother, Margarete, and the estate of his deceased brother, Christian Ainsworth, to secure 12.3 per cent. The group lodged a form to act together last week, making the family office (fronted by Ainsworth) AGT’s largest minority shareholder.

“I’m not the kind of person who lies down and doesn’t fight when I see that something in principle is worth defending,” he said. “We’ve got enough money to actually build a blocking stake.”
Novomatic does not need to receive regulatory approvals to acquire AGT because it has been a major shareholder since 2016. Its bid came after a year-long strategic review of the business and its management says it represents a “significant premium” to the group’s long-term trading value.
“The independent board committee has carefully evaluated the proposed scheme consideration,” an AGT spokeswoman said. “In the absence of a superior proposal, and the independent expert concluding that it is in the best interests of Ainsworth Game Technology shareholders, the proposal represents attractive and certain value for minority shareholders.”
Nasdaq listing plan

Ainsworth, like the other minority shareholders, says AGT is worth far more than Novomatic’s bid. He points to an undervalued property portfolio on AGT’s books and a price advantage from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Unlike its competitors, AGT’s poker machines are made in the US.
AGT operates out of two properties. Costs for the land and buildings were $79 million as of December 31, 2024.

Novomatic is an Austrian family-owned poker machine company that owns the Admiral Casino brand. It was introduced to AGT in 2013, as tighter gambling regulations forced the Australian company to seek growth overseas. Three years later, Novomatic bought a 53 per cent stake in the group from its founder.
A former chief executive of Novomatic, Harald Neumann, has led Ainsworth Gaming Technologies since 2021.
Ainsworth is convinced Novomatic’s eventual plan is to list AGT on the Nasdaq. His thesis is based on a conversation he claims was had between his mother and Neumann five years ago.
“Neumann said: ‘I have a five-year plan, and my plan is to list the company on the US stock exchange,’” said Ainsworth. “Harald Neumann is now living in Nevada ... 80 per cent of their sales are occurring between Latin America and America.
“This is a company that’s going to move its head office to America once they get the scheme of arrangement out of the way, and they will prepare themselves to list on that stock market and get an enterprise value of $3 to $4 a share.”
An AGT spokeswoman said all shareholders could vote at the scheme meeting later in the year after considering the independent report and scheme booklet. AGT shares were trading at 96¢ on Monday after the company released a trading update.

It told investors it expects underlying EBITDA of about $26.8 million for the half-year ending June 30.
Ainsworth said he was ready to take the company on, no matter where it ends up: “I just think morally … it’s just the wrong thing. We’re here to stay.”

Zoe Samios covers wagering and the business of sport from the AFR's Sydney newsroom. She was previously the media and telecommunications reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and covered media at The Australian. Connect with Zoe on Twitter. Email Zoe at zoe.samios@copyright link