Paysafe board recommends £3bn sale to CVC and Blackstone
Board unanimous on acceptance of cash offer from Sky Bet owner and PokerStars shareholder
The Paysafe board has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept a £2.96bn offer from a consortium of funds managed by private equity companies Blackstone and CVC Capital.
The Paysafe board said in a regulatory filing it considered the offer of 590p per share to be “fair and reasonable”.
The valuation represents approximately 14 times annual EBITDA.
The bid pairs CVC, which has majority ownership stakes in Sky Betting & Gaming and Tipico, with PokerStars-shareholder Blackstone.
The acquisition of Paysafe will give the two investors further exposure to the online gambling sector, with Paysafe providing its services to the majority of operators, and gambling making up 45% of its business.
The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The transaction continues a recent trend of M&A in the payments sector as investors bet on the demise of cash, with the UK’s leading processor Worldpay bought for £9bn by US rival Vantiv last month.