Kambi gains full control by repaying full €7.5m Kindred bond

Kambi has fully repaid the €7.5m convertible bond held in its business by Kindred Group, enabling the B2B betting and gaming supplier to expand directional control.

The bond was established as part of the terms of Kambi’s divestment from Kindred back in 2014, after which Kindred became a primarily B2C-focused company via its Unibet and 32Red holdings.

Despite the divestment and bond, Kindred and Kambi have maintained a commercial partnership in the years since, with the latter providing the operator with its range of sportsbook solutions.

The partnership between the two was most recently renewed in February 2022, extending the arrangement until 2026 and factoring in Kambi’s support for the development of the Kindred Racing Platform.

Nonetheless, Kambi has emphasised the significance of the convertible bond repayment in granting it greater control over the direction of its business moving forward.

Kambi’s statement read: “The repayment of the convertible bond means Kambi will no longer be required to seek prior consent from Kindred for certain events and eliminates the prospect of Kindred converting the bond into shares, which would have given the operator a controlling influence over Kambi.”

In a separate development, Kambi has also initiated a share buyback programme following its latest Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) as a means to achieve added value for shareholders and improve the flexibility of its capital structure.

As it stands, there are 31,278,297 shares in Kambi, of which the firm currently holds 523,500 itself as a result of a share buyback programme from 27 October 2021 to 10 November 2021.

Under the terms of the EGM decision, Kambi can purchase no more than the equivalent of 10% of its shares at the time of the meeting, amounting to a maximum of 3,106,480 at €7.2m.

Repurchases can be made from 3 May onwards via the Stockholm Nasdaq First North Growth stock exchange, whilst Kambi has partnered with Carnegie Investment Bank AB to conduct the repurchases on its behalf.