Betclic faces SPAC makeover as owner targets €7bn Amsterdam listing

Betclic has become central in the plans to establish ‘FL Entertainment’ – a new Pan-European entertainment conglomerate that seeks to list on the Amsterdam Euronext Exchange, targeting a + €7 billion valuation.

Yesterday, French media mogul Stéphane Courbit ordered for his Banijay (Zodiak + Endmol Shine) entertainment venture to be merged with Betclic Everest to form FL Entertainment.

Deal makers plan for the new business, with combined revenues of €3.5 billion and an EBITDA of €610 million, to be listed on the Amsterdam Euronext via an SPAC transaction led by blank cheque vehicle Pegasus BV. 

The Amsterdam listing will be led by a cash commitment of €620 million in FL Entertainment, of which €250 million cash will be invested by Financière Lov, the investment fund of the Courbit family. Meanwhile SPAC vehicle Pegasus announced that it had secured a €250 million guaranteed investment by private institutional investors.  

​Courbit will serve as Chairman of the new enterprise and French banker François Riahi will assume the position of CEO, whilst the Betclic Group will be led by Nicolas Béraud as CEO.

“Achieving a public listing of FL Entertainment through this partnership with Pegasus Entrepreneurs is a milestone in the history of our group,” said Courbit. 

“As a result of the transaction, the group will benefit from a robust balance sheet and will be very well positioned to capture growth in the entertainment industry.”

Moving forward, FL Entertainment aims to secure an additional €250 million by widening the scope of its investors following its Amsterdam listing, targeting further growth across Europe.

So far €250 million has been injected into the venture by controlling shareholder Financière Lov, followed by €50 million by Financière Agache and Tikehau Capital and ‘over €100 million’ by Pegasus itself.

The company projects revenue of around €3.8 billion and approximately €645 million in EBITDA by the close of 2022 by combining the two entities, specialising in pan-European sports betting via Betclic and television programming via Banijay.

Betclic appears to have been identified as the key driver of growth for the new enterprise, with revenue expected to sit in the ‘low teens’ for the operator, whilst income from Banijay Group is predicted to remain in the ‘single digits’.

FL Entertainment detailed that it anticipates its holdings in the European online betting and gaming space to prove lucrative, pointing to projected regional industry revenues of €115 billion over the next five years.

The transaction will provide an equal equity roll-out for minority shareholders of FL Entertainment that will be composed of Banijay investors Vivendi, Fimalac and De Agostini and Betclic investor SBM International. 

Courbit added: “FL Entertainment is all about partnership, and I am pleased to welcome Pegasus Entrepreneurs and its sponsors as shareholders to our strengthened partnership with Vivendi, SBM International, Fimalac and De Agostini, our existing shareholders in Banijay Group and Betclic Everest Group who have given us their full support to make FL Entertainment even more powerful.”