NYX to acquire OpenBet

Gaming Group has agreed to acquire fellow supplier OpenBet for £270m.

Operators William Hill and SkyBet are contributing £80m and £20m respectively to the overall purchase price, which also includes repayment of OpenBet's £95.4m debt.

The transaction, which is subject to customary conditions and approvals, is expected to close in May 2016.

NYX expects to generate annual cost synergies of C$4m-C$6m and revenue synergies of C$8m-C$10m, excluding a newly announced development program.

William Hill has engaged NYX and OpenBet in a development program to "further modernise" OpenBet's technology.

The program will take around three years to complete and is estimated to generate £10m in EBITDA for NYX over the period.

NYX chief executive Matt Davey said the acquisition of the "highly complementary" OpenBet business "completes" the NYX portfolio to leave his firm as the "leading provider of B2B betting and gaming solutions on a global scale".

OpenBet CEO Jeremy Thompson-Hill described a "natural union" of "synergies in product, the customer base and, importantly, culture".

The purchase will be financed through a combination of new senior secured credit facilities, convertible preference shares in a new wholly-owned subsidiary called NYX Digital Gaming (OB Holdings) Limited, a placement of new unsecured convertible debentures and a "bought deal" private placement offering of subscription receipts.

An official statement announcing the deal said OpenBet is being purchased for 8.4x EBITDA, "based on the annualised adjusted EBITDA for the three month period ending December 31".