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Entertainment group Banijay is buying a majority stake in Tipico, the leading sports betting and gaming operator in Germany and Austria, in its largest deal to date.
The French owner of Betclic will pay cash for the stake owned by private equity firm CVC at an enterprise value of €4.6bn, the company said on Tuesday.
Acquiring Tipico would double revenues at Banijay’s gaming arm to €3bn, and bring its adjusted earnings before interest and other costs to €716mn. By combining it with Betclic and Admiral gaming, Banijay will become Europe’s fourth-biggest gaming group, the company said.
“Banijay Group is a natural consolidator in the field of entertainment and is able to seize opportunities to expand and to create value. Tipico fits perfectly well in this strategy and is in line with our DNA,” said chief executive François Riahi.
Banijay will have 65 per cent of the share capital when the deal closes by mid-2026, a figure that could rise to 72 per cent through call options with CVC and Tipico’s founders.
Betclic and Tipico founders will remain “long-term shareholders” in the combined gaming enterprise, Banijay said, while CVC will also retain a minority stake.
The deal will be backed by a financing package worth about €3bn, including refinancing Tipico’s debt, underwritten by Betclic’s financial partners.
Earlier this year, Banijay founder Stéphane Courbit said the group was searching for “transformational” deals in TV and gaming markets.
Courbit has expanded Banijay into one of the largest producers of TV shows in Europe since it was founded in 2008 on the back of an aggressive M&A strategy, and has most recently been linked with UK rival ITV. It makes and distributes shows such as Big Brother, Black Mirror and MasterChef.
The company is listed in Amsterdam, and backed by Vivendi and an investment group controlled by Bernard Arnault and his family.
Banijay executives are also looking at raising its stake in luxury marketing group The Independents next year, when it has an option to increase its position from 14 per cent to 51 per cent.
Courbit also told the Financial Times that he wanted to grow the group’s online gaming business in markets where it could rank among the top three operators.
Banijay shares rose 0.5 per cent in early trading to €9.90 and have gained almost 17 per cent this year, valuing the company at €4.2bn.