Unibet eyes acquisitions to expand global reach, CEO admits
Henrik Tjarnstrom, chief executive of Unibet, refuses to comment on a possible merger with Sportingbet, but admits it has been in talks with "many companies" and is looking to acquire a business to expand its geographic reach.
If Unibet does merge with another operator it would be to improve its geographic reach rather than its product offerings, its CEO admitted to eGaming Review this morning, only hours after media reports said the Swedish firm had entered preliminary talks with Sportingbet.
“You can either grow organically or you can grow through mergers and acquisitions,” Henrik Tjarnstrom, chief executive of Unibet said, refusing to comment on whether or not the company had met specifically with Sportingbet representatives to discuss a merger. He admitted, however, that it had been in talks with “many companies” adding “we are looking at different opportunities, it could be mergers, it could be acquisitions.”
“Historically, we prefer to do acquisitions so we have better control around it,” he added. “But with a merger between two companies, there are clearly synergies to be had and that would be good for the shareholders.”
The Sunday Times yesterday reported that Unibet was in preliminary merger talks with Sportingbet, with further talks expected in coming weeks, the newspaper said quoting an unnamed source.
“If we’re looking at anything [in terms of an M&A deal] now, we’re looking at geographical expansion as we’re very happy with the product offering we have,” said Tjarnstrom.
Sportingbet released a statement to the stock exchange this morning confirming that it “has had and will continue to have discussions with different parties in relation to a variety of potential opportunities”.
“There can be no certainty as to whether or not such discussions will result in any form of transaction,” it added.
Read David Myslinski’s blog for more on a possible Unibet merger.
Look out for an in-depth interview with Henrik Tjarnstrom in next month’s eGaming Review.