kstone and CVC Capital Partners have agreed a deal to acquire Paysafe for £2.96bn.

This latest acquisition for Blackstone follows several prior deals in the gaming space, including the purchase earlier in July of Clarion Events for £600m.

Online payments company Paysafe have guaranteed a price of 590 pence per share for their shareholders, a 42% premium on the group’s average value over the past year.

Speaking to Gambling Insider last month, Lorien Pilling, Director at Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, commented: “The Paysafe bid with CVC does seem to be more of a gambling-linked investment. Paysafe has both payment brands and also the affiliate marketing business Income Access. CVC already has a number of betting and gaming investments like Sisal, Sky Bet and Tipico. Also, CVC did previously hold a stake in Skrill (2014), which is now a Paysafe business, so it knows the sector.”

Martin Brand, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “As a leading technology investor, Blackstone believes that Paysafe is an ideal platform for continued innovation in the payments space, and look forward to supporting Paysafe's growth both organically and through acquisitions.”

The deal is expected to be finalised by the fourth quarter of 2017 and will see Blackrock and CVC also acquire the online payments arm of Paysafe’s merchant services business Neteller.