The French investment house Louis Dreyfus is preparing to buy a stake in Mangas Gaming, a 50-50, Paris-based Internet betting joint venture between Bains de Mer de Monaco and the holding company of French TV producer Stephane Courbit.
Louis Dreyfus will take part in a Mangas Gaming capital increase that will give it 25 percent ownership, while Courbit will reduce his stake to 25 percent and Bains de Mer de Monaco will keep its shareholding unchanged.
Mangas Gaming is now Europe’s third biggest internet betting group, after Austria’s Bwin and Gibraltar’s PartyGaming. The online gambling group, which owns BetClic, paid around $100 million for 60 percent of online poker company Everest Gaming on 16 December in a deal with parent group Gigamedia .
Earlier in the year, Mangas acquired Germany’s Bet-at-home and Scandinavian sports betting operator Expekt.
The company has over 4 million customers, 600 staff and a presence in 25 countries.
Louis Dreyfus notified the European Commission of its planned acquisition on 14 December and expects a decision by the middle of January.