La Française des Jeux (FDJ) will buy the Swedish operator Kindred, owner of the Unibet site. A takeover bid valued at 2.6 billion euros, and would therefore be the largest operation in the history of the FDJheir to the French lottery created in 1933 and listed on the stock market at the end of 2019. According to the press release, this acquisition should allow the French company to become a “European champion of games of money and chance”.
Announced in January, the takeover bid was closed on Wednesday evening, more than a month ahead of the initial schedulethe FDJ having obtained the green light from the Competition Authority in France in mid-September. The results of the offering will be announced at market close on Thursday.
Considered a “major milestone” for the group by its president Stéphane Pallez, the acquisition of Kindred should allow it to strengthen itself in the online games market by becoming “a leading international player”.
Kindred Group, which employs around 2,500 people, is one of the world’s leading online gaming operatorswith activities in Europe and Australia. Its nine brands (Unibet, bingo.com, 32 Red, Maria Casino, etc.) enabled it to record a turnover of 1.21 billion pounds sterling in 2023 (1.45 billion euros).
In France, the acquisition of Unibet will allow the FDJ to become “the third operator in the competitive sports betting and online gaming sector”. The FDJ already finalized last year the takeover of ZEturf, second operator in the French online horse racing betting marketfor a company valuation of 175 million euros.
It also acquired Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) in 2023.“for a company value of 350 million euros”, becoming for the first time in its history the operator of a lottery abroad.
The completion of the takeover bid for Kindred remains subject in particular to the acquisition by FDJ of at least 90% of the capital. In mid-September, the group indicated that “five shareholders (Corvex Management LP, Premier Investissement SAS, Eminence Capital, Nordea and Veralda), representing a total of 26.72% of Kindred’s outstanding shares, have irrevocably committed to contribute their securities to the offer”. The group also acquired 1.11% of Kindred’s outstanding shares from Veralda in March.
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