Sportech offloads Dutch tote business
London-listed firm says €3m sale will allow it to focus on its US operations
Sportech has sold its Racing BV business, which holds a five-year licence for tote betting in the Netherlands, to a company called RBP Luxembourg.
RBP will pay total cash consideration of up to €3.25m, with €2.8 million payable on closing and up to a further €450,000 payable in January 2019, depending on performance.
Sportech wail continue to provide its Tote services to RBP, which also operates French betting pools.
“The proposed disposal represents an attractive opportunity to realise value following the successful licence extension and restructuring of the business by management as we increase focus on US growth opportunities,” said Andrew Gaughan, CEO of Sportech, said.
“Sportech will continue to provide RBP, under a long term contract, its ongoing tote services and also has a strong working relationship with them focused on developing and selling their French racing pools into our vast footprint of global customers.”
Racing BV tote licence gives its exclusive rights to carry out tote betting on horseracing in the Netherlands through nine betting shops, 38 other outlets with point-of-sale terminals and online through www.runnerz.nl.
The transaction is expected to close in H2 2018.
The announcement comes one month after Sportech failed to find a suitable buyer for the entire business through a formal sale process .
The firm’s shares plummeted 50% on that announcement, but have since recovered much of the losses.