Discussions between Playtech and Flutter Entertainment over a lucrative ‘potential sale’ of its Snaitech Italia business, have been confirmed by the supplier.
Playtech issued a brief statement following significant media speculation on the potential sale of its Italian business to Flutter.
The statement emphasised that discussions are ongoing “regarding the potential sale of the Snaitech business for a value that could be about £2bn.”
Playtech granted Flutter a period of exclusivity to complete due diligence and necessary terms to pursue a deal with investors.
As it stands, Playtech’s board has not sanctioned any approach by Flutter, and “there can be no certainty that any transaction regarding the potential sale of the Snaitech business will ultimately be agreed upon, or as to its terms. Further announcements will be made as and when appropriate.”
Flutter responded by emphasising that at this stage there is no certainty that Flutter will proceed with an acquisition, adding it will provide an update as appropriate.
It would build on Flutter’s ambitions for expansion into the Italian market to expand its International unit (non-US and UK), which in 2022 acquired Italian lotto and retail betting giant SISAL for €1.9bn.
The acquisition of Snaitech would be transformative for Italian gambling, merging the market’s second and third largest gambling groups under Flutter International’s domain.
Published yesterday, Flutter’s Q2 accounts registered International Unit revenues of $807m (+11%), combined with EBITDA results of $156m.
Setting out ambitions for growth in the future, the firm’s CEO Peter Jackson underlined that ‘if necessary, we will go beyond our leverage targets to do a deal’ when it comes to market expansion.
