After last month receiving the approval of numerous regulatory authorities, giant gaming machine manufacturer Novomatic AG has announced that last week saw it complete its planned acquisition of a 52% stake in Australian rival Ainsworth Game Technology Limited.

In a short filing to the Australian Securities Exchange, the Austrian company detailed that the purchase was finalized on Friday before declaring that Len Ainsworth, founder and Chairman for Sydney-based Ainsworth Game Technology Limited, would be standing aside in order to take up a year-long consultancy role with the firm.

Gumpoldskirchen-headquartered Novomatic AG firm earlier described the $354.5 million it would be spending in order to purchase the controlling stake in Ainsworth Game Technology Limited as the ‘largest investment an Austrian company has ever made in Australia’ and moreover revealed that 94-year-old Ainsworth and his interests would be retaining a 1.87% stake in the Australian enterprise.

In advance of completing the acquisition, Harald Neumann, Chairman for Novomatic AG, declared that his firm had become ‘one of the few’ companies based in the European Union to have ‘passed strict compliance checks from these international authorities’, which included the Nevada Gaming Control Board, before last week stating that the company now intends to further expand into the gaming market of the United States.

“Our shares in Ainsworth [Game Technology Limited] are strategically very important for Novomatic AG,” read a statement from Neumann. “After all, the joint plan is to increase market share in the United States to about 10% over the next five years. In the long-term, Novomatic AG may become the world market leader in the area of gaming.”

Ainsworth Game Technology Limited first revealed the proposed transaction involving 172.1 million ordinary shares in February of 2016 before its directors recommended the deal three months later.