SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Lottomatica Group has informed investors that it plans to issue €500m in debt notes to fund its agreed acquisition of SKS365 Malta Holdings for €640m.
Struck on 2 November, the deal sees Lottomatica become Italian gambling’s largest omnichannel group, in which the company will absorb the 1000+ betting points of PlanetWin365 and 120 arcade venues of PlanetPay365—the flagship brands of SKS365.
To fund the acquisition, the board of Lottomatica intends to issue and sell €500m in debt notes. The transaction includes floating rate senior secured notes due in 2030 and 7.125% senior secured notes due in 2028.
The transaction sees Lottomatica deepen its capital reserves, as the Borsa Milan gambling group will secure access to a further €50m revolving credit facility.
Debt notes are expected to be issued around the completion date of the SKS365 deal, which dealmakers anticipate will be completed by Q1 2024 trading.
At present, Lottomatica’s acquisition of SKS365 is under review and pending regulatory approval by Italy’s antitrust and competition authorities.
2023 is a transformative year for Lottomatica as the company relisted on the Milan Borsa in May. Group leadership reaffirmed 2023 guidance of generating full-year revenue performance between €1.63bn to €1.69bn, and an adjusted EBITDA in the range of €570m to €590m.
Lottomatica proceeds with its acquisition of SKS365 properties, as the Italian government undertakes a generational review of Italy’s gambling laws.
Agreed by Parliament, Phase 1 of the review will focus on modernising Italy’s land-based gambling laws, an overdue requirement needed to settle long-standing disputes on licensing concessions.
The review will further evaluate industry taxes and rules on land-based gambling as the government seeks to adopt a fixed standard of rules to operate gambling venues within the nation’s 20 administrative regions.
