Gamma Intermediate sells shares in Lottomatica
The company has sold a 6.4 per cent stake in the Italian operator.
Italy- Gamma Intermediate has announced that it has sold 16 million shares in the Italian gambling operator Lottomatica for €152m. The sale constitutes a 6.4 per cent stake and leaves Gamma Intermediate with 65.4 per cent of Lottomatica.
Gamma Intermediate sold the shares at €9.50 a piece through an accelerated bookbuild open to institutional investors. It has agreed to a 90-day lock-up for its remaining majority stake.
Lottomatica results and SKS365 acquisition
In November, Lottomatica Group reported a strong performance in online gambling revenue. Following its first full quarter since its Milan Euronext IPO in May, it has reported that total gross gambling revenue for the first nine months of 2023 reached €2.8bn, a rise of 7 per cent year-on-year.
GGR rose by 10 per cent when discounting the impact of the acquisition of Betflag. The estimated online market share was up by 3.8 points year-on-year to 21.2 per cent. The online market share was up by 4.5 points at 21.7 per cent thanks to the online brands Lottomatica, Better, Goldbet and now Betflag.
The company also announced an agreement to acquire SKS365. It said its acquisition of the Italy-facing operator will accelerate this growth and expand its brand portfolio. It announced the issue and sale of notes worth €500m to put towards the funding of the €639m deal. The issue consists of floating rate senior secured notes due 2030 and 7.125 per cent senior secured notes due 2028.
The notes will be issued on or around the completion date of the SKS365 deal, which Lottomatica hopes to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2024 subject to antitrust and regulatory approval. Lottomatica has also received new commitments for revolving credit under an existing agreement. This gives it an aggregate principal amount of €50m, contingent on the acquisition.
SKS365 has a strong online presence, while also running approximately 1,000 retail sports betting points of sale. With PlanetWin365 and PlanetPay365 among its brands, Lottomatica chief executive Guglielmo Angelozzi believes SKS365 will be “highly valuable and complementary” to the group’s portfolio.
