Another big English football sponsorship in prospect for Kenyan firm?

The Kenyan retail and online sports betting firm SportPesa is in the football sponsorship headlines again just days after news that it has inked a multi-million pound partnership with Hull City FC (see previous report).

The Liverpool Echo reports that the company is in talks on a “lucrative” shirt sponsorship deal with Everton in a bid to increase its UK presence further, and hopes to replace the Chang Brewery as sponsors when the football club’s twelve year association with Chang expires this summer.

The Chang deal currently delivers around GBP 5.3 million a year to the Blues, and the Echo reveals that the SportPesa deal is likely to be considerably better than that.

SportPesa was founded two years ago and is owned by Pevans East Africa Limited. The company also has deals with Southampton as its Europe and African partner, and in February this year the company added Arsenal to its growing roster of commercial tie-ins.

Along with sponsoring the Kenyan Premier League and Rugby Union SportPesa’s logo also appears on the shirts of Kenya’s most successful club Gor Mahia.

According to the Nairobi News website SportPesa was started by a group of international investors including chief executive Ronald Karauri, a former Kenya Airways pilot, three Bulgarians and American businessman Gene Grand.

In Kenya alone the company’s website reportedly attracts a daily average of one million users.