The board of Allwyn Entertainment has confirmed it has increased its interested stake in Greek gambling group OPAP SA from 41.2% to 48.1%.
An agreement was reached with Yeonama Holdings Co, enabling Allwyn to acquire the ‘remaining minority interest’ in SAZKA Delta Investments, an entity that held 6.9% of OPAP shareholders.
The transaction will cost Allwyn Entertainment €327m and will expand its position as OPAP’s largest corporate shareholder.
Allwyn secured its majority investment in OPAP in 2019 when owner Karel Komárek’s KKCG fund acquired the gambling portfolio of EMMA Capital, a Prague-based PE firm that had previously owned 33% shareholding in OPAP.
KKCG transferred its OPAP shareholding to SAZKA Group, the former business entity of Allwyn, to help structure Europe’s largest lottery operating conglomerate, managing majority shareholdings in OPAP, Casinos Austria and Lotto Italia.
Having transformed its business identity at the end of last year, Allwyn announced that it had agreed to merge with former Goldman Sachs Global COO Gary Cohn’s SPAC vehicle that will list Allwyn on NYSE, targeting a $9bn valuation.
The firm’s hierarchy is aiming to expand its business beyond European markets as it aims “to become the dominant player of the $300bn global lotteries marketplace.”
Listing on the NYSE, Allwyn outlined that it would aim to optimise and scale its best-in-class European operations, technologies, and systems, as well as to bid for lottery tenders in North America and emerging markets.
Allwyn is currently awaiting the outcome of the UK government’s Fourth National Lottery Competition to see if it has won the rights to steward the National Lottery from February 2024.
