The Superbet Group, one of the largest players on the sports betting and gaming market in Romania, announces the takeover of the Belgian company Napoleon Sports & Casino, the third largest in Belgium. The company says that this is “one of the largest acquisitions made by a Romanian company abroad”. The local press writes that Superbet thus becomes the leader of the local market and, among others, the owner of the Knokke and Middelkerke casinos.
The value of the transaction was not made public, but it was agreed, and the sale process will be completed in the coming weeks.
Napoleon Sports & Casino is one of the top three profile companies in Belgium. As a structure, the Belgian company has both a retail component and a strong online component.
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The Belgian press writes that Napoleon Games is the leader of the Belgian market in online and offline gambling. It combines online gambling with a physical presence through casinos in Middelkerke and Knokke and 25 offices in Belgium, mainly in Flanders, but also in Brussels and Wallonia.
Last year, the group had a gross turnover of 134 million euros and an operating profit of 32 million euros. It was slightly profitable (2.2 million euros). The increase in online gambling revenues offset the closure of the group’s casinos due to the coronavirus crisis, allowing Napoleon Games to record a 7% increase in revenue. The group has developed its own technology platform in recent years and therefore does not depend on external technology providers.
For the past 6 years, Napoleon Sports & Casino has been owned by Waterland Private Equity Investments, a pan-European investment fund.
The integration of the Belgian company supports Superbet’s strategy to accelerate international expansion both in the region (Central and Eastern Europe) and in Western Europe, as well as globally, according to company representatives.
In May 2019, the Superbet Group attracted an investment of 175 million euros from Blackstone Tactical Opportunities (BTO), part of the American Blackstone Group, one of the largest investment funds in the world.
Superbet ran a real takeover tour, with the investment giant entering its shareholding. Last year, the Romanian group acquired a 60% stake in online casino operator Lucky7 to expand its coverage of the online gaming segment.
Superbet is a Romanian company founded in 2008 by Sacha Dragic, currently Executive Chairman of the Superbet Group. Internationally, the Superbet Group has direct operations in Poland (since 2017), its expanded international presence through the Lucky 7 brand, offices in six countries and a turnover of almost 300 million euros in 2020.
Superbet operates a network of almost 1,000 agencies nationwide (~ 50 in Poland) and has 4,000 employees in the countries where it is present.
Superbet is present on the AeRo alternative stock exchange, following a bond issue worth 9.6 million lei (2017).
Translated from Romanian by Service For Life S.R.L.