SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Novibet has notified investors of the composition of its executive leadership team and board of directors, should its planned merger with SPAC partner Artemis Strategic Investment Corporation (Artemis) reach fruition.
Declared on 30 March, the Greek online gambling group had secured a strategic arrangement to merge with Artemis, a SPAC vehicle that plans to list Novibet on the Global Nasdaq at a target valuation of + $650m.
Providing an update on merger developments, Novibet informed that its schedule remains in place, as dealmakers anticipate closing the transaction by H2 2022.
Investors have been informed that Group Chief Executive George Athanasopoulos will lead a new C-level executive team charged with spearheading the group’s “global expansion across Europe, North and Latin America”.
Athanasopoulos will be joined by Thomas Granite, current treasurer of the Artemis SPAC, who will serve as Novibet’s new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
An expert in corporate financing for gambling enterprises, Granite is the former CFO of Maverick Gaming and Managing Director of Jeffries Group’s asset management unit for leisure and gaming investments.
Supporting new growth initiatives, Novibet confirmed the appointment of Christoforos Bozatzidis to the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer for International Markets.
Fresh to the igaming sector, Bozatzidis joins the Novibet C-level team from Greek telecoms group WiND Hellas, where he previously served as Marketing Director of Brand and MarComms.
Athanasopoulos commented on the leadership appointments: “Christoforos has many years of senior management experience from the highly competitive mobile telecom industry, an industry that shares a lot of similarities with igaming and OSB in regards to customer acquisition, experience, and retention as our customers are constantly mobile, and we use the same KPIs for our data-driven decision making.
“Tom Granite is an excellent choice to lead our finance team and will play an important role in driving our strategic development initiatives. Novibet’s senior management team alongside all of our team members, will be focused on the collaborative innovation we know will help us grow and succeed.”
Ahead of transformative plans, Novibet informed that majority shareholder Rodolfo Odoni, the owner of the Cyprus-based Komisium fund, had chosen to serve as Executive Chairman of the company.
Should proceedings be finalised, Odoni will lead Novibet’s new board of directors composed of Athanasopoulos as CEO, alongside Artemis appointees of Philip N Kaplan and Holly Gagnon.
The current CEO of the Artemis SPAC, Kaplan is also Chairman of Velocity E-Sports and CEO of Gameworks INC. Gagnon, who has served as chair of Artemis SPAC bid, is a seasoned North American leisure and gambling executive who was former CEO of the Seneca Nations Gaming Corporation and has held previous C-level roles at MGM Resorts, Harrahs and Caesars Entertainment.
As it stands, Novibet has named Samy David, Managing Partner of London private equity fund Grifton Partners, as an independent board member.
Odoni backed the board composition in a missive to shareholders, stating: “Our proposed Board of Directors will be world-class, as it will include senior executives who possess significant gaming and/or technology industry and capital markets experience that we believe will prove valuable in helping the company continue to execute at a high level and achieve consistent progress on its growth initiatives.”
“We’re looking forward to working collaboratively with George and the entire Novibet team as they embark on this exciting time in the company’s history and work to create value for all shareholders.”
