Entain plans to unlock shareholder value through a gradual exit from its Polish and Croatian businesses.
Entain has agreed to sell a 20% stake in its CEE business, marking the first step in a planned full exit.
On Thursday, Entain made the announcement that it had agreed to sell a 20% interest in Entain CEE to EMMA Capital, its joint venture partner.
The deal features a €395 million ($448.6 million) payment on the completion of the deal, plus an additional payment in early 2027 to reflect Entain CEE’s FY26 performance.
The total cash consideration is approximately €425 million, implying an enterprise value of €2.1 billion for Entain CEE. Entain will utilise the net proceeds to reduce its outstanding debt.
The deal to sell the 20% stake is expected to be completed in Q4 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Following the conclusion of the deal, Entain’s shareholding will drop from 67.5% to 47.5%, while EMMA Capital’s will increase from 22.5% to 47.5%. The remaining 10% will stay with the Juroszek family.
Beyond the initial 20%, however, Entain also announced its intention to fully exit Entain CEE, which consists of its STS business in Poland and SuperSport in Croatia.
“Our initial divestment is a decisive first step towards Entain fully exiting Entain CEE and reflects our ongoing focus on maximising value for shareholders,” Entain CEO Stella David said.
“This enables us to unlock the value created by our Croatian and Polish businesses and demonstrates our robust capital allocation discipline.”
The rationale behind Entain’s CEE exit
Entain CEE reported FY2025 NGR of £522 million, a 7% year-on-year rise, as well as a 7% increase in EBITDA to £184 million.
During Q1 2026, however, NGR from the CEE operations dropped 6% from the same period of 2025.
The company said its decision to pursue an exit from the CEE business is threefold.
The first is that it aligns with the group’s strategy to maximise shareholder value, with an exit supporting the simplification of its overall structure.
Secondly, Entain said the move will unlock value generated since the CEE business was formed in 2022, in partnership with the investment business EMMA Capital.
Entain CEE’s formation followed the group’s €690 million purchase of a 75% stake in SuperSport.
At that time, Entain said it would be the first of many acquisitions in CEE, and the following year, it agreed to acquire STS for £750 million.
Both STS and SuperSport have maintained their positions as the market leaders in their respective markets since being acquired by Entain CEE.
Entain’s final stated reason for its exit was its balance sheet and financial flexibility, with future proceeds to go towards reducing the group’s reported leverage below 3x and returning any excess capital to shareholders.
“Driven by structural growth across our globally scaled portfolio and our improving operational execution, I am confident in our ability to deliver strong future cash-generation,” David added.
“Entain remains well positioned to be a long-term industry winner.”
Updated guidance for Entain
Entain has updated its FY2026 guidance to reflect the 20% CEE divestment.
While it reiterated its expectations of 5%-7% online NGR growth in constant currency, online EBITDA margin is now expected to be between 21% and 22%, down from the previous 23%-24% range.
Entain remains comfortable with the compiled consensus of £1.13 billion in group underlying EBITDA, based on 11 analyst estimates.
Additionally, the company also said it is still on track to generate around £500 million in annual adjusted cashflow in 2028.
Entain expects to provide further guidance details when its interim results are released on 13 August.
