Sky offloads Sky Betting & Gaming operation, including Sky Bet to Pokerstars owner The Star Group for £635m.
Sky has confirmed the completion of the sale of its 20% stake in Sky Betting & Gaming to The Stars Group for a total of £635m.
This disposal follows the initial sale of Sky’s majority stake in SBG to CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”) in 2015 which, taken together, has crystallised a total value of c.£1.4bn for Sky shareholders.
From its inception in 2001, Sky Bet grew organically under Sky’s ownership to become one of the leading operators in the UK’s online betting and gaming markets, benefiting from a strong partnership with Sky Sports and Sky’s technology and product innovation expertise. After selling a majority stake to CVC in 2015, Sky continued to work closely with its partners at CVC and the SBG management team to drive the further development of the business. As part of the transaction, Sky will continue to license the Sky Betting & Gaming brands to The Stars Group.
At Closing of the Transaction, Sky has received c. £426m in cash and c 7.6m shares in The Stars Group, valued at c. £208m at last night’s closing share price. Sky will use the proceeds principally to reduce debt and reinvest in further growth opportunities. In addition, a small proportion of the proceeds will be used to fund an innovation centre to be built on its Osterley campus which will house technology engineers and software developers focusing on innovation across Sky’s world class broadcast and streaming platforms.
The transaction is part of a transaction under which CVC will sell the whole of its stake in SBG to The Stars Group.