SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Former Chief Executive of Ladbrokes Plc, Chris Bell is set to bring Israeli igaming marketing and player acquisition operator XL Media to the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Mr Bell, appointed to aid the floatation of the company has appointed bankers Cenkos Securities to undertake the proposed stock market flotation.
XL Media provides digital marketing and player acquisition services for igaming brands such as Ladbrokes, 888 and William Hill. The business was founded by Israeli tech entrepreneur Ory Weihs in 2003.
The business began as Affiliate Network referring igaming customers to partner gambling brands, the company through a series of mergers has extended its channels and verticals to media buying, player acquisition, consulting. XL Media currently supplies igaming traffic on all product verticals to more than 150 operators. Its current network has more than 2,000 websites in 17 languages.
Ory Weihs will remain as Chief Executive, ahead of the proposed listing he and his fellow founders own 24,% of the business. The company is looking to raise £28m – £30m in its initial flotation round.
In the year to December 2012, the most recent for which audited numbers are available, XL made adjusted profits – before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization – of $13.47m (£8.1m) on sales of $26.1m (£15.6m).
