Betclic Everest Group, a television production company Banijay and a merger of special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) will allow them to go public together on Euronext Amsterdam.
Betclic Everest and Banijay will join forces to form FL Entertainment. The combined company, which has an enterprise worth of EUR7.2bn ($7.5bn/EUR6.2bn), is expected to generate revenues of EUR3.5bn, and earnings adjusted before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) will be EUR609m.
Banijay is the TV company that produces shows like Deal or No Deal, Fort Boyard, Big Brother and Peaky Blinders. Regulus Partners estimated that Betclic Everest generated EUR741m of revenue in 2021. This is up 64% on 2020.
FL Entertainment is then going to merge with Pegasus Enterprise Acquisition Company Europe (Euronext Amsterdam).
All Betclic Everest subsidiary companies, including Bet-at-Home, will be included in the deal. Bet-at-Home is listed at Frankfurt’s Xetra exchange.
Pegasus already has EUR220m of private equity funding (PIPE), plus EUR250m additional funding by Financiere, the controlling shareholder, EUR50m each from Financiere Agache, Tikehau Capital, and EUR100m via non-redemption agreements.
SPAC is aiming to raise an extra EUR 250m through PIPE.
Pegasus stated that Betclic would benefit from the extra funding by “attracting new players through innovation and improvements in its offers and user experience as well as investing in customer relationship management in order to retain and improve players’ loyalty”.
Pegasus expects Betclic to have a player base of more than one million players in 2022. This is an 18% increase from the current 893,000 average monthly players.
The new company will have Francois Riahi as its chief executive, replacing Banijay’s Stephane Courbit.
Courbit stated that “achieving a public listing for FL Entertainment via this partnership with Pegasus entrepreneurs is a landmark in our history.” The group’s balance sheet will improve as a result. It will also be better positioned for growth within the entertainment sector.
The management team of FL Entertainment includes Francois Riahi, CEO of FL Entertainment; Marco Bassetti, CEO of Banijay Group; and Nicolas Beraud, CEO of Betclic Everest Group.
Both Marco and Nicolas developed their business with great success and will do so even more in the new framework, supported by an experienced team.
SBM International, the owner of Monte Carlo Casino and the biggest shareholder in Betclic Everest will hold 10% of this new company. They’ll also appoint a member of its board.
Pierre Cuilleret will be joining the Board of Directors of Pegasus Enterprises after the merger. He is the sponsor of Pegasus and the CEO.
He said: “Pegasus entrepreneurs was founded by investors who wanted to partner with an entrepreneurially-led European business that had a proven track record of profitable growth. We also saw the opportunity to create value through our network, expertise and listing platform.” We could not have imagined a more ideal opportunity to reach our goal on behalf of shareholders than by partnering with FL Entertainment, and Stephane Courbit.
The proposed merger with FL Entertainment has received strong support by our investors and shareholders, as demonstrated by the unprecedented amount of non-redemption pledges that have already been made, along with the largest PIPE raise by a European listed SPAC. FL Entertainment is looking forward to its next phase of growth and creating value.”
Regulus Partners, a consulting business, noted that the timing was right for the SPAC merger but an additional gaming operator might be needed to finish the deal.
Regulus stated that “Betclic chose a great time to SPAC.” The French and Portuguese markets showed very strong growth in adoption during Covid. Meanwhile, the extremely restrictive German and Polish markets provide a solid foundation for share and segment growth.
Regulus noted that Betclic’s experiences in the UK, Italy, and Sweden (where it eventually exited in 2019) demonstrated a business model less effective in markets with high competition. It warned that this could limit growth.
The size of Banijay in the SPAC is important to the gaming sector. An acquisition of an omnichannel operator or online business that has proven capabilities to compete would complete the operation and reduce these risks. This combination also has the ability to do so.
