Better Collective seals €34.5m esports acquisition
Danish affiliate acquires two CS:GO content platforms from HLTV to embrace burgeoning esports vertical
Better Collective has acquired esports platform HLTV.org ApS in a deal which could see the affiliate pay up to €34.5m.
Under the deal, Copenhagen-headquartered Better Collective has secured the assets of HLTV and dust2.dk, two of the most popular esports platforms for the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) title.
The purchase price set at €34.5m includes a €26.4m upfront payment, €23.7m of which will be paid in cash, with the remaining €2.7m to be paid as shares in Better Collective no later than 13 March 2020.
The remaining €8.1m is structured as three separate payments to be made across the next three years subject to HLTV reaching certain financial thresholds. Better Collective can also exercise an option to pay up to half of the remaining €8.1m fee in Better Collective shares.
HLTV founders and senior management team will continue running daily operations of the brands for at least the next three years to ensure a sustained pattern of development and structure.
HLTV provides esports news and data from CS:GO competitions and has more than 26.5 million website hits per month on average.
Dust2.dk is the leading CS:GO community in Denmark and provides news, interviews and Danish CS:GO data to an average of 250,000 visitors a month.
Jesper Søgaard, CEO of Better Collective, said: “We have carefully analysed and monitored esports for a long time. It is a rapidly growing industry and we consider esports an ideal extension to our sports-focused business.
“The nature of esports betting differs significantly from traditional sports betting and, therefore, it was essential to find the right partner, adding deep know-how and industry knowledge to Better Collective,” he added.