Reports: Perform Content to be sold to private equity firm
B2B arm of Dazn Group thought to be worth $120-180m
Dazn Group is close to a sale of its Perform Content business, according to multiple news reports.
Perform Content provides data to gambling operators via its Opta brand, among others, and has become increasingly important thanks to the growing popularity of bet builders and Requestabets.
The division, which was split out from Dazn as a B2B arm in September last year, is thought to be worth $120-180m.
The business is expected to be sold to private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, according to a Bloomberg source. Vista currently owns STATS, a rival statistics group.
The deal would be the third major investment from private equity into the data space in recent months after Apax Partners acquired Genius Sports Group, and Sportradar raised new capital to help it attack the US market.
A DAZN spokesperson confirmed the company is engaged in talks with a potential bidder for Perform, as part of a strategic review announced in October.
Julian Buhagiar, co-founder of RB Capital told EGR that data firms were a uniquely attractive investment opportunity for PE.
“This is a very contested acquisition space at the moment,” Buhagiar said. “Both Sportradar and Genius Sports have been the focus of significant VC/PE interest.
“All three players thus offer a huge range of sports data and integrity technology services, which guarantee stable and consistent returns unaffected by high customer acquisition costs or indeed legislation. They will also be invaluable when aiming to engage and retain existing players and acquire and attract a new, younger mobile-first audience.”