SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Updating the market this morning, Sportech Plc has informed that its ‘The Football Pools’ division will not be sold to industry private equity firm Burlywood Capital.
Last September, a sale of the Football Pools was announced with Burlywood governance agreeing to pay Sportech a total cash consideration of £97 million for its asset.
Issuing a corporate update, Sportech’s CEO Ian Penrose detailed that “Burlywood was unable to conclude the transaction set out within their proposal,”
In its September acquisition prospectus, Burlywood an industry investment specialist led by Mark Blandford and Andrew Burnett specified that the firm would secure a £30 million debt facility for its acquisition.
Securing its acquisition of the Football Pools, Burlywood would move to float its asset on the London AIM exchange.
In recent years The Football Pools has been the subject of numerous rejected acquisition bids, as Sportech governance has declined the proposed offers of interested parties.
In 2015 Sportech’s division had generated revenues of £33 million with yearly profits of £15 million. However, the asset has seen a continued decline in active players which has stagnated to circa 300,000. Aiming to modernise its asset for digitally-led audiences in 2014 The Football Pools undertook a product revamp combined with a brand overhaul.
Updating its investors, Sportech governance stated that the company would continue to focus on “maximising opportunities for the business”.
