March 09, 2009

Mangas Gaming announces Bet-at-home acquisition and confirms Expekt buy out

Mangas Gaming, the holding company for London-based betting operator Betclic, has confirmed the acquisition of Expekt, the Scandinavian-focused sports betting operator and announced the acquisition of Bet-at-home.com, a sports betting operator listed in Frankfurt, Germany, with a strong presence in German-speaking countries and Central Europe.

Financial amounts were not revealed, although a figure of €125m for Expekt has been widely circulated. Bet-at-home’s market capitalisation was €38.2m as of this morning.

Nicolas Beraud, chief executive of Betclic, said the acquisitions were part of Mangas Gaming’s stated ambition to become one of the leading pan-European online betting and gaming operators.

He said: “The acquisition of Expekt enables us to tap into significant market share in Scandinavia and that of Bet-at-home provides access into Germany and Central Europe. Combined with Betclic’s strong presence in France, Italy and Spain, we are realising our ambition of being a leader in pan-European egaming.”

Mangas Gaming will keep the three brand names operational to keep the “local feel and know-how” of each operator. The strategic moves by Mangas mean the company will record around €200m in gross gaming revenues in 2009 and have four million registered customers and around 500 staff.

The two acquisitions will be financed by Mangas Gaming, in which holding company Financière Lov, headed up by former Endemol France boss Stéphane Courbit, and Monaco’s Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) have equal stakes. Isabelle Parize of Mangas Gaming will further develop the group’s acquisition drive with further announcements in the coming months.

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