The Stars Group completes $4.7bn Sky Betting & Gaming deal
The company behind PokerStars, The Stars Group Inc, announced on Tuesday via a press release that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Sky Betting & Gaming in a cash and stock transaction valued at $4.7bn.
News of the deal comes after the company successfully raised $622m through a public offering to help funds its acquisition of Sky Betting & Gaming.
Private equity firm CVC, which hold 71% of Sky Bet’s shares, agreed to buy its stake in Sky Bet from Sky in late 2014, according to a BBC report. The deal to sell to the Stars group was announced by Sky and CVC in April as reported by Reuters.
Rafi Ashkenazi, Chief Executive of Toronto-based The Stars Group, said that SBG will add to PokerStars offerings and enhances the group’s presence in the regulated market to approximately 75% of overall revenues. He described the deal as a “landmark moment” for the Stars Group.
“SBG operates one of the world’s fastest-growing sports books and is one of the United Kingdom’s leading gaming providers. SBG’s premier sports betting product is the ideal complement to our industry-leading poker platform,” he added.
Mr. Ashkenazi states that the deal will help the Stars Group “offer two low-cost acquisition channels of this magnitude provides The Stars Group with great growth potential and will significantly increase our ability to create winning moments for our customers”.
SBG was purchased through a combination of cash and the remainder of it was purchased through 37.9 million newly-issued common shares.
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