Betsson completes acquisition of Dutch online casinos

The acquisition of the Dutch-facing Kroon and Oranje online casino businesses by Betsson has received regulatory approval and has now been completed, according to a Betsson statement Wednesday.

Betsson agreed to purchase the holding company, Class One Holding Ltd, for Euro 100 million earlier this year (see previous report) subject to regulatory approval. The consideration will be paid by cash and partly by a new issue of 2 563 028 shares of series B shares. In addition Betsson is to pay Euro 2.3 million for acquired cash and cash equivalents and acquired net income.

Only the sellers of Oranje and Kroon are entitled to subscribe for the new B Shares, which they can buy by transfer of shares in Class One Holding Ltd. All newly issued B Shares have been subscribed for and allotted.

The new shares will be admitted to trading on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm during the current week. The sellers are committed to certain restrictions regarding the transfer of the newly issued Series B shares, including not selling part of the shares for six or twelve months.

Betsson has also clarified that an additional purchase price in cash, based on the outcome of the anticipated re-regulation in Holland, may be paid, up to a maximum of Euro 45 million, which implies that the total maximum purchase price could ultimately be as much as Euro 145 million.

However, Betsson anticipates having to pay Euro 30 million in additional purchase price, implying a total purchase price of Euro 130 million.

Betsson has disclosed that it has taken an external loan of Euro 78 million, part of which will be used to pay for Class One Holding, and part to pay for the April 2012 acquisition of the Malta-based Nordic Gaming Group (see previous reports).

On top of this loan facility, Betsson has an additional credit facility of Euro 12 million to be used when needed.

Betsson expects that the acquisition will contribute positively to Betsson’s financial result from this day, the 4th of March 2014, and onwards.