SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
It has been reported by Reuters that buyout group Centerbridge has teamed up with Deutsche Telekom to bid for German sports betting group Tipico.
The owners of Tipico are being advised by Rothschild and JP Morgan and final bids are due at the end of next week. The founders are selling up having run and grown the company since its launch in 2004.
Tipico has become well known in Germany having sponsored a number of Bundesliga clubs including Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen as well as getting Oliver Kahn on board as a brand ambassador. This is in addition to Tipico agreeing a deal to become the title sponsor of the Austrian Bundesliga from 2014/15.
A story appeared on Reuters yesterday which stated that sources had claimed that Deutsche Telekom was looking to take a minority stake in Tipico, whilst Centerbridge would acquire the majority.
Indeed Deutsche Telekom is no stranger to the world of betting, it owns a 64% stake in Deutsche Sportwetten (DSW) GmbH, the owner of Austria’s sport betting group Tipp3, which launched a service for Germany in 2015.
The article also stated that other interested parties include CVC Group which owns a majority stake in Sky Bet. A Reuters source said: “CVC could reap synergies by combining Tipico with online betting group Sky Bet, which it bought in late 2014, and may therefore be able to make the highest offer.”
It has been speculated that the Centerbridge/Deutsche Telekom offer could be in the region of €1 billion (£799.3m).
