FDJ’s Kindred acquisition: new board announced

The French gambling giant has appointed a new chairman and three new executive directors to Kindred’s board.

France.- The French gambling giant FDJ has named a new chairman and three new executive directors to Kindred’s board. The move follows the resignation of chairman Evert Carlsson and Kindred’s five directors in the wake of FDJ’s €2.45bn acquisition of the Swedish online gaming operator.

The new chairman is Pascal Chaffard, who joined FDJ in 1994 and is now EVP finance, performance and strategy. Meanwhile, Edeline Minaire and Célia Vérot become executive directors. Minaire is FDJ’s finance director, a role she’s been in for five years. Vérot took up a role as FDJ’s chief regulation officer in May 2024, coming from the civil service.

Former Kindred directors Carlsson, James H Gemmel, Cédric Boireau, Andrew McCue, Jonas Jansson and Kenneth Shea all resigned following the approval of FDJ’s acquisition of Kindred on October 4. The independent non-executive directors Heidi Skogster and Martin Randel have also tendered their resignations but will remain on the board until their terms expire at Kindred’s annual general meeting next year.

Carlsson, who is chairman of the Swedish bank Dalslands Sparbank and a member of the board for PEG Capital Partners, had joined Kindred’s board in 2021. Skogster and Randal joined in 2021 and 2023 respectively.

FDJ has said that its acquisition of Kindred will be transformative for European gambling, making it the most highly valued group in the region now that Flutter has moved its listing to New York. It gains FDJ a presence in new markets, such as the UK and Kindred’s native Sweden as well as the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium, all regulated markets. The deal also means FDJ will have a presence in all online gambling verticals, gaining brands like Unibet, 32Red, Bingo.com, Maria.com and the games studio Relax Gaming.

The acquisition is the latest in a string of deals for the former state-controlled lottery operator. It has entered the payments space domestically while also snapping up the horseracing betting operator Zeturf. Internationally, it has added the Irish National Lottery operator Premier Lotteries Ireland to its growing portfolio.