Unibet finalises Stan James Online acquisition
Operator completes £19m deal as it targets further growth in competitive UK market
Unibet has completed the £19m acquisition of Stan James’ online business and confirmed it will maintain the sportsbook’s brand and platform.
Unibet agreed the deal for the digital business of Gibraltar-based Stan James in July, although will not take on the firm’s 90-shop retail business.
In a statement the Stockholm-listed operator said, with the deal now complete, Stan James Online would “continue to trade under the existing brand and through the current platform”, adding it would immediately begin to consolidate the business in its results.
Speaking to eGaming Review when the deal was first announced, Unibet CEO Henrik Tjärnström said the extra scale achieved by the deal would see Unibet close in on its target of achieving a top five position in the UK market.
“We have to aim high and this is clearly putting us on that path. I’m really confident that this is the right kind of scale and step-change in scale,” Tjärnström said.
But Unibet has so far remained tight-lipped on its longer term plans for the brand, and indeed the Finsoft platform on which it sits with many expecting a switch to Kambi, which was until last year part of the Unibet group.
Unibet has been acquisitive of late in its push for further European market share, having also agreed a £41.6m deal for Nordic-facing multi-brand operator iGame Group.