Flutter Mulls Acquisition of Playtech’s Snaitech Unit
Flutter Entertainment (NYSE: FLUT) is reportedly in talks to acquire Playtech’s (LSE: PTEC) Snaitech business, news that sent shares of the target’s parent soaring in London trading.
Media reports indicated FanDuel could pay as much as $2.56 billion for Snaitech, which represents a healthy premium to Playtech’s market capitalization of about $2.12 billion. Founded in 1990 and branded as Snai, Snaitech offers horse and sports wagering services in Italy and operates more than 49,000 gaming and lottery devices in that country.
The website, snai.it, offers a vast range of gaming and entertaining services including all online products: sport and horse racing betting, poker cash and poker tournament, skill games, casino and cash games, betting on virtual events, forecasts, bingo, lotteries and number games, virtual sports. Betting and casino apps are available also from website using a technology that adapts to all devices,” according to the company.
Snaitech also has bit exposure to Austria and Germany through its 2022 purchase of Happybet. At one point today, Playtech shares were up 22% on the news, marking the stock’s biggest intraday pop in nearly three years.
Playtech Deal Could Finally Come to Fruition
Currently, there’s no indication as to how advanced the talks are between Flutter and Playtech, but the would be seller said it is in exclusive negotiations with the prospective buyer.
Playtech has long been the subject of consolidation speculation, but with nothing to show for it. The sale of Snaitech could change that. In July 2023, Playtech attempted to acquire 888 Holdings Plc (OTC: EIHDF) for $890 million, but was turned away.
In October 2021, Playtech agreed to a $2.8 billion deal with Aristocrat Technologies and two other suitors emerged for the gaming software company, but those two suitors ultimately pulled their bids and the deal with Aristocrat fell apart. In July 2022, Playtech scrapped plans to list Caliente Interactive’s Caliplay unit on a US exchange via a reverse merger with a blank-check entity.
For Playtech, the allure in selling Snaitech is that such a transaction would allow the seller to become a full business-to-business (B2B) player in the European gaming scene while reducing its exposure to volatile consumer spending trends.
Deal Would Boost Flutter’s Italy Footprint
For FanDuel parent Flutter, the potential acquisition of Snaitech makes sense because it would increase the buyer’s presence in Italy, which is the Eurozone’s third-largest economy behind Germany and France.
In 2022, Flutter paid $2.2 billion for Italian lottery giant Sisal. Prior to that acquisition, Flutter’s PokerStars and Betfair were operational in Italy with significant market share.
Italy is Europe’s second-largest regulated gaming market after only the UK. Adding to the allure of Snaitech for Flutter is the point that while penetration of online wagering in Italy has surged in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, it remains far below the rates seen in comparable markets such as Australia and the UK. That implies there’s ample room for growth and Flutter’s potential purchase of Snaitech could be validated over the long-term.
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