SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
888 Holdings has announced the completion of its commercial transaction with Paf, selling its full portfolio of Latvian properties to the Finland-based business. 
The sale was first announced in May 2023 and encompassed the MrGreen.LV and WilliamHill.LV domains. The latter of which had only entered Latvia in May 2022 shortly ahead 888 completing its takeover of the wider William Hill group.
Paf, which is based in Finland’s Åland Islands and owned by the regional government of the territory, purchased the holdings for €28m as the firm targets a stronger long-term presence in the Latvian market.
“The sale of the Latvian business marks another positive step in the execution of our integration programme,” said Lord Mendelsohn, Executive Chair of 888.
“This sale generates cash proceeds from a non-core market to support our deleveraging plans, as well as enabling reinvestment into our core and growth markets.”
Commenting at the time of the transaction, Paf CEO Christer Fahlstedt described the takeover as a ‘good long-term investment’ for the company, which has been active in Latvia since 2018.
The Latvian-facing domains of William Hill and Mr Green – which registered 2022 revenue of £9m alongside an EBITDA result of £2.5m – will initially continue under their current brand status, with no immediate noticeable differences for customers.
Meanwhile, for 888 the sale marks a trimming down of its European business as part of a wider review of its asset base, which has seen consideration of monetizing non-core assets.
Although revenue increased in the LSE company’s FY2022 trading results, profit declined by 10% to £80.5m due to increased interest costs following the William Hill acquisition and losses amounted to £116m.
This has prompted the firm to examine ways to cut costs and losses and analyse strategic alternatives for revenue generation, including a sale of assets and a potential divestment of its stake in UK racing content distributor SIS (Sports Information Services).
