By Gianluca Lo Nostro, Jakob Van Calster and Alexander Hübner
(Reuters) -French media group Banijay will buy a majority stake in betting firm Tipico from private equity group CVC, it said on Tuesday, in a move that will create one of Europe’s biggest online gaming operators.
Banijay, whose shareholders include the Arnault family and Vivendi, has been expanding its business beyond television through acquisitions. Its shares were up 7.6% by 1146 GMT.
The deal values Tipico at 4.6 billion euros ($5.4 billion) and will merge it with Banijay-owned Betclic under a new entity, Banijay Gaming, which will be the largest sports betting company by revenue in continental Europe ahead of Italy’s Lottomatica.
Banijay, whose activities beyond betting also include TV production of shows such as “Big Brother” and sci-fi series “Black Mirror”, plans to initially hold 65% of the new company and aims to raise that stake to 72% via call options. CVC will retain a minority stake.
The Amsterdam-listed private equity company bought the majority stake in Tipico in 2016, valued at 1.4 billion euros at the time according to two sources who spoke to Reuters.
Buyout firms are under pressure to sell long-held assets and return money to investors. The sale of Tipico signals that dealmaking in Europe is picking up again after a quiet spell.
“From the outset, we were confident that there would ultimately be a strategic buyer for Tipico,” CVC’s managing partner Daniel Pindur told Reuters. “Betclic was by far our preferred partner,” he added.
BANIJAY CONFIDENT ON REGULATORY APPROVAL
The transaction stands at around 3 billion euros for the majority stake in Tipico, in a combination of cash and shares. That will include paying off Tipico’s existing debt.
Banijay expects to close the deal in mid-2026, and CEO Francois Riahi said the company was confident it would be able to get regulatory approval to do so.
“There is no real overlap. We are going to sell our shares in Bet-at-home, which is a listed German company where we have a stake,” Riahi told reporters.
Tipico, the market leader in Germany, operates from Malta, a European hub for sports betting and online gaming. Riahi said there were no plans to change this setup.
Banijay expects the acquisition to bring in 100 million euros in annual cost benefits within three years from the deal.
Reuters reported in April that the group was in early talks to buy British broadcaster ITV’s studio business.
When asked about ITV, the CEO said Banijay would focus on the Tipico deal in the next months. However, he added the group would not lose sight of its strategy in the entertainment industry, saying consolidation there “makes a lot of sense”.
Banijay will update its financial guidance to reflect the deal in the coming weeks or months, Riahi said.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Jakob Van Calster in Gdansk, Alexander Huebner in Munich; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
