Unibet Buys French Poker SiteScandinavian Online Poker Operator Returns To French Market After Significant Absence |
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Unibet Group plc is to return to the French online gaming market for the first time in around 18 months after it announced it was buying Eurosportpoker.fr and Eurosportbet.fr.
The company is paying €5.6 million plus a net cash adjustment of €1.5 million for Solfive which owns the trademarks. It will also provide funds when the deal closes for Solfive to settle a fixed debt of €2.375 million. An earn out payment may also be made after six months depending on trading results.
Unibet plans to rebrand to Unibet.fr with the hope of leveraging the legacy strength of the brand.
It is now awaiting approval from Arjel and hopes to complete the deal by the end of the year.
Henrik Tjärnström, chief executive officer of Unibet explaied the move: “This strategic acquisition gives Unibet immediate access to the French market with a technical platform that is already licensed offering sports betting, poker and horse racing. We will rebrand the business quickly to Unibet.fr. The combination of Unibet’s strong brand, the efforts already made to build a significant market share for EurosportBet, and the difficult decisions taken by management to control costs give the best opportunity to be successful in a very difficult market.
“Even though we recognise that it will be difficult to generate profits in the short term under the current terms and conditions, we consider that over the medium term France will develop a more sustainable model that will better achieve the goals of player protection, fair competition and reasonable taxation.
“With this acquisition Unibet can re-enter the French market at a limited cost to take advantage of the longer-term opportunities."
Unibet Poker revenue has plummeted by 50 percent since it left the French market.
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