A new global giant in the gaming industry is born. The definitive signature has arrived for the merger (all in shares) between the Irish Paddy Power and the British Betfair, which by joining together will give life to the new number one in the world in online betting, listed both on London Stock Exchange both to that of Dublin. The new name is the result of a simple sum: "Paddy Power Betfair". The operation is worth 5 billion pounds (about 6,8 billion euros).
The agreement confirms the terms of the preliminary agreement signed at the end of August: Paddy Power will have 52% of the new company and Betfair the remaining 48%.
La market share of the new group, which will be chaired by Paddy Power's number one, Gary McGann, will reach 16%, while the turnover it should reach £1,1 billion.
La headquarters of the new company will be in Dublin and the estimate of synergies arising from the merger is £50 million a year. For Paddy Power shareholders there is a extraordinary dividend of 80 millions of euros.
Betfair also has a gaming license in Italy and recently Paddy Power has also established itself in our country.
Two years ago Betfair rejected numerous approaches from private equity funds, including the giant CVC. In the past 12 months, the British firm has doubled its share value on the stock exchange and seen its number of customers increase by 52 percent.
Those between Paddy Power and Betfair are not the first marriages in the gaming sector, which is increasingly seeking to strengthen itself to face the tightening of taxes and requests from regulators. At the beginning of summer it was the turn of Coral e Ladbrokes, while Bwin has long been courted by 888 and Gvc.
