Danish gaming firm Better Collective has purchased Newcastle’s AceOdds, a multi-language sports betting company, for €42m (£35.9m/$45.5m).
The transaction took place on a net cash/debt free basis and implies a 12-month EBITD multiple of 4x. The deal will be financed by €40m in cash, with the remainder made up by an undisclosed total of Better Collective shares. The shares will be based on the volume weighted average share price on the Nasdaq Copenhagen five days before and ending five days after its closing. Better Collective plans to set up a share buyback scheme for this, which will be settled in shares.
AceOdds was founded in 2008 and offers betting tools, reviews, odds and streaming programmes.
Ian Bowden, senior director, UK and Ireland at Better Collective, said AceOdd’s offerings and trajectory aligns “perfectly” with Better Collective’s vision for the future: “This strategic acquisition brings us a robust owned and operated sports betting media brand in the UK market, poised for global scalability,” he said.
“Aligned perfectly with Better Collective’s overarching strategy of acquiring leading sports media brands across various niches, the AceOdds brand fills a crucial gap by offering a vital sports betting affiliation brand in a pivotal growth market for the Better Collective group, along with an app benefiting from hundreds of thousands of installs to further increase the reach we can provide our partners.”
Following the deal, Better Collective has heightened its full-year 2024 financial targets. Revenue is now expected to fall between €395m and €425m, up from previous targets of €390m and €420m. EBITDA before special items is now projected between €130m and €140m. Previously, this was €125m to €135m.
Better Collective, which was founded by Jesper Søgaard andChristian Kirk Rasmussen (pictured) in 2004, noted that AceOdds had achieved operational earnings of approximately €10m in the last twelve months. Better Collective said that it wishes to reinvest part of this profitability into its product and user experience. AceOdds has also consistently achieved recurring revenue. Better Collective will utilise zero and first party data from AceOdds’ app to improve targeting on AdVantage, Better Collective’s internal adtech platform.