Blackstone reportedly puts back CIRSA IPO again

The gambling group’s Madrid IPO had been planned for April.

Spain.- The private equity group Blackstone has reportedly postponed its plans for a Grupo CIRSA IPO on the Madrid Bolsa. A listing of up to 25 per cent of the shares in the Spanish gambling group had been planned for April, but it appears that the move will be put back until at least after Easter due to the current market uncertainty.

Blackstone has not confirmed the reports, which appeared on the Spanish business site Expansión, but it seems logical that it would choose to wait for greater market stability. Most major global markets have been rattled by Donald Trump’s back-and-forth swings on trade tariffs. The S&P has fallen from 6,144 on February 19 to 5,537 today. The Madrid IBEX 35 has been caught up in the bearish trend in the past week, slipping 2 to 3 per cent amid fears of the impact of possible US tariffs on EU goods.

Grupo CIRSA owns gaming machines, casinos, arcades and betting shops in Spain as well as in Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru. In November, Blackstone signed up Lazard, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley to head capital investment for a potential IPO. It hoped to raise up to €1bn.

Meanwhile, CIRSA reported record full-year operating profits for 2024 at €699m. Revenue was up by 8 per cent to €2.2bn. The company, which was bought by Blackstone in 2018, saw a particularly strong final quarter, with operating revenue up by 13.7 per cent to €586m and operating profit up 17.3 per cent to €191m.

Highlights of the year included continued expansion in Latin America, where CIRSA made improvements to casinos in Colombia, Mexico and Panama, and gained a major presence in Peru by acquiring the country’s biggest sports betting operator, Apuesta Total, in September.