Between the shares placing and a retail offering to investors, Entain has raised close to £600m (€701.4m/$761.6m). The remaining net proceeds – around £150m – will go towards funding “further near-term acquisitions”.
Entain CEE announced the £750m acquisition of STS Holding yesterday (13 June). The acquisition will see Entain CEE pay PLN24.80 per STS Holdings share.
Entain CEE is the joint venture between Entain and Emma Capital. It was established in August 2022 following Entain’s acquisition of SuperSport, a deal that moved the operator’s focus towards Eastern Europe.
With this acquisition of STS, Entain will take charge of the leading sportsbook brand in Eastern Europe’s largest economy.
Shares placement
The pre-emptive shares placement was conducted by Merrill Lynch International and Morgan Stanley. The two entities are acting as joint global coordinators and bookrunners at a price of £12.30 per placing share. Santander is also acting as a co-manager in relation to the placing.
The £12.30 placing price is 6.9% less than Entain’s closing share price of £13.22 recorded on 13 June.
Retail investors have subscribed to the operator’s offer through capital markets technology platform PrimaryBid for a total of 486,010 new ordinary shares. This is known as the retail offer, which formed part of the £600m raised by the operator.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/finance/entain-completes-fundraising-for-sts-acquisition/
