Better Collective acquires UK affiliate AceOdds for €42m
Copenhagen-based giant plots product and UX gains with full-year 2024 guidance increased as M&A muscles flexed once again
Better Collective has acquired sports betting media firm AceOdds for €42m (£36m) with plans to solidify the brand’s UK and presence and expand globally.
The deal will be financed by €40m in cash, with the remainder of the fee paid in Better Collective shares.
The affiliate will structure a share buy back programme for the last portion of the overall acquisition fee to be settled in shares.
Over the past 12 months, AceOdds EBIT has amounted to around €10m, with the purchase price representing a 12-month EBITDA multiple of 4x.
The Denmark-headquartered firm said it will use a portion of AceOdds’ profitability to reinvest in product and user experience, which will have a short to medium-term impact on future profitability for the brand.
AceOdds was founded in 2008 with an initial USP of providing UK-based sports fans with a simple-to-use betting calculator.
In the 16 years since, the brand has gone from strength to strength and now offers users live streaming schedules, betting tools as well as its own app.
While AceOdds already boasts a significant amount of recurring revenue and has been able to extend its reach outside of the UK, Better Collective has identified the potential of scaling the brand globally by using its local expertise across various regions.
The Copenhagen-headquartered affiliate giant also plans to invest significant resources into more product enhancements for AceOdds, in turn growing the brand’s audience in relevant audiences, including the US.
Better Collective’s internal Adtech platform, AdVantage, will receive zero- and first-party data for the UK market from the AceOdds app.
Corfai Capital, a new M&A advisory company founded by RB Capital co-founder Ben Robinson, advised AceOdds on the deal.
Ian Bowden, Better Collective senior director for UK and Ireland, explained how the acquisition plays into the affiliate’s main strategy.
He said:”I am thrilled to announce the addition of AceOdds to the Better Collective group. This strategic acquisition brings us a robust owned and operated sports betting media brand in the UK market, poised for global scalability.
“Aligned perfectly with Better Collective’s overarching strategy of acquiring leading sports media brands across various niches, the AceOdds brand fills a crucial gap by offering a vital sports betting affiliation brand in a pivotal growth market for the Better Collective group, along with an app benefiting from hundreds of thousands installs to further increase the reach we can provide our partners”.
In light of the acquisition, Better Collective has upgraded its 2024 full financial year targets.
The dual-listed company now expects revenue to fall somewhere between €395m and €425m, while EBITDA is predicted to see growth of anywhere between 17% and 26%.