Breaking news: Unibet withdraws from Sportingbet merger talks
Sportingbet has announced Unibet has withdrawn from merger talks.
Swedish operator Unibet has withdrawn from merger talks with Sportingbet, the board of the British firm has announced to the stock exchange.
“The board of Sportingbet notes continuing press speculation following an article which specifically referred to merger discussions with Unibet Group, a company listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm. Unibet informed the company today that it has withdrawn from those talks,” a statement read.
Yesterday, Henrik Tjarnstrom, chief executive of Unibet, told eGaming Review the company was in talks with “many companies” adding it is “looking at different opportunities, it could be mergers, it could be acquisitions”.
“Historically, we prefer to do acquisitions so we have better control around it,” he added. “But with a merger between two companies, there are clearly synergies to be had and that would be good for the shareholders.”
Tjarnstrom said that if the company did merge with another operator it would be to improve its geographic reach rather than its product offerings.
Sportingbet is still in talks with other companies over “other opportunities”, an unnamed source told Reuters news agency. The operator’s share price, however, fell to a 20-month low on the news that Unibet had withdrawn from talks. Sportingbet saw its share price fall by almost 10%, the most since March 2009.