Unibet in AU$20m Betchoice acquisition
Swedish operator targets Australian entry after acquiring Northern Territory-licensed bookmaker.
Unibet is gearing up for an entry into the Australian egaming market with the acquisition of Northern Territory-licensed bookmaker Betchoice.
The initial outlay for the deal amounts to AU$20m (£13.6m), payable in cash on closing, with Betchoice founder Mark Morrissey receiving an earn-out based on five and a half times 2014 EBITDA in Australia and AU$2.4m being paid to other shareholders providing Australia EBITDA reaches AU$4.4m in two years time. This makes each one of Betchoice’s 35 employees worth AU$388,000.
Expected to be completed before the end of the second quarter this year, the acquisition follows Unibet’s £4.8m acquisition of EurosportBet owner Solfive in November, a move which saw the Swedish operator enter the French market in earnest earlier this year.
Betchoice will now take advantage of the software provided by Unibet’s B2B arm Kambi, which entered Asia following a deal with AsianLogic in December.
Henrik Tjärnström, Unibet CEO, said: “Betchoice already has a strong offering and market position in horse racing and through Kambi, Unibet has the opportunity to enhance the quality and performance of Betchoice’s sports betting offering and so to deliver revenue growth and margin improvements.”
He added that, as with EurosportBet, Betchoice’s offering would be quickly rebranded as Unibet. Tjärnström also suggested that the acquisition, which is subject to approval by the Northern Territory Racing Commission, would not have a significant impact on Unibet’s 2012 numbers.
Morrissey said of the acquisition: “with Unibet’s expertise in marketing and risk management, together with its market-leading sports betting offering, I am confident that we can increase substantially our market share and establish Unibet as one of the leading brands in Australia.”
Betchoice by numbers:
Founded 2001 by Mark Morrissey and Colin Tidy
Gained Northern Territory licence in 2006
Former head of casino and games at Paddy Power Graham Keating took over as CEO last September
Annual turnover AU$200m
Mobenga mobile supplier
One of six local operators listed on Oddschecker white label partnership in Australia with News International-owned newspaper titles The Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph
The competition:
Sportsbet “ Acquired by Paddy Power last year
Centrebet “ Acquired by Sportingbet last year
Bet365 “ awaiting licence approval, expected next month
Betfair
BetStar
Totesportsbet
Tab – Formerly state owned bookmaker “ Luxbet online brand