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(Bloomberg) — Flutter Entertainment Plc agreed to buy Playtech Plc’s Italian gambling business for €2.3 billion ($2.6 billion) in cash in its latest international acquisition as the FanDuel owner takes advantage of a growth surge in the US.
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Playtech will pay a special dividend of €1.7 billion to €1.8 billion “as soon as practicable” after the completion of the deal, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Flutter expects the acquisition of the Snaitech division to close by the second quarter of 2025, the gambling group said in a separate statement.
Flutter, which has benefited from a surge of new customers and revenue in the US, has also aggressively expanded internationally in recent years. Chief Executive Officer Peter Jackson told Bloomberg last month that mergers were part of the company’s strategy to build “podium positions” in local markets, and the company has bought businesses in Italy, Georgia and India.
Flutter said last week it will buy a majority stake in NSX Group, Brazil’s fourth-biggest online gaming operator. The value of gambling deals, investments and joint ventures globally has quadrupled in the last 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Milan-based Snaitech makes up the majority of Playtech’s business-to-consumer operations, which accounted for 60% of the company’s revenue last year, according to its last annual report. After the sale, Playtech’s main business will be oriented around selling software to other gambling companies. Snaitech, founded in 1990, is one of Italy’s leading betting companies. It operates gaming machines, manages horse racing and sports betting, and owns race tracks.
Playtech shares fell 3.1% to 730 pence at 10:24 a.m. in London trading, giving the company a market value of about £2.3 billion and taking gains to 63% this year. The stock had surged 15% in London on Monday after a Sky News report that the deal was imminent. Flutter’s London-traded shares rose 0.8%.
(Updates with special dividend details from second paragraph)
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