B2B games supplier Ganapati’s Estonian arm has been declared bankrupt, with the company blaming the COVID-19 induced economic crisis. 

According to court documents, Ganapati NEO Estonia OÜ owes at least €672K, but only has assets worth €521K. Apparently, the insolvency developed in March 2020, at the latest, which coincided with the height of the first round of COVID-19 lockdowns. Reports suggest Ganapati closed its offices in the Baltic state in July. 

Maltese issues and Taiwanese headaches

Ganapati’s Estonian issues are, however, likely just the tip of the iceberg for Ganapati Group. More dramatic was its decision to surrender its Maltese license, and its move to exit the AQUIS Stock Exchange. 

Questions have also been raised about Ganapati’s ties to Gamatron, which was raided by police in Taiwan in July. However, Ganapati CEO, Juliet Adelstein, who was only appointed to the role in January, has emphasised that Ganapati Group is independent of both Gamatron Curacao and Gamatron Studios. 

Japanese problems

Meanwhile, in Japan, authorities shut down GPJ Venture Capital LLC – a major source of funding for Ganapati PLC. According to industry media CalvinAyre.com, Adelstein has denied the GPJ was part of the Ganapati Group. However, an update from Ganapati PLC, dated 1 April 2020, clearly referred to GPJ Venture Capital LLC as a “subsidiary” of the company.  

According to The Toyo Keizai, GPL Venture Capital had raised some 16.6 billion yen (approx. $150M USD) by the extremely dubious tactic of targeting elderly Japanese people with phone calls. 

AYO.NEWS says:

We should remember that, even though the online casino sector has been booming during the crisis, any companies that were already over-leveraged as the crisis hit, could very easily find themselves in trouble, with access to capital getting ever more difficult as investors turn risk averse.

So, is Ganapati simply being smart and streamlining an over-bloated global operation in order to weather the coming COVID-19 induced economic storm, or has something else gone very wrong?

One thing is for sure, the moves Ganapati is making don’t seem to gel with the goals it stated at the beginning of the year. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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