Catena Media to acquire Bettingpro.com
Catena Media has moved to further enhance its sports betting business with the acquisition of Bettingpro.com and its related affiliate assets.
The purchase price amounts to £13.9m (€15.8m/$18m), with £11.9m to be paid upon completion of the transaction and the additional £2m six months after completion, conditional upon a successful handover of the assets.
Bettingpro.com publishes various sports news, tips and betting advice across a number of different verticals, with a focus on acquiring leads for regulated UK and Australian online partners.
The deal also includes the acquisition of a number of premium domains, such as Footballtips.com, Bettingpro.com.au, Livetennis.com, Racingtips.com and Freespins.com.
With Bettingpro generating 80% of its revenues from revenue share deals with operators, iGaming Business asked Ben Robinson, co-founder of the advisory firm RB Capital that represented Bettingpro during the transaction, if the sale price could have been higher.
“Revenue share is usually the preferred revenue stream over CPA in regulated markets,” said Robinson, “affiliates that have a higher proportion of the former should achieve a greater quantum for their business due to the recurring revenue that a rev-share model affords. We feel that the purchase price was very fair especially considering there was no earn out.”
Bettingpro generates large quantities of daily content, not something affiliates have concerned themselves with historically, and has a team of 25 to 30 journalists.
Robinson said “this is certainly one of the factors that differentiated this asset from others in the sector; providing players with true journalistic content that enriches their experience and creates a loyal following”.
He added that Bettingpro's casino vertical, which generates just 10% of its revenues at the moment, would see increased focus and that there was “a great deal of potential for growth from this vertical – web properties such as freespins.com will have the ability to scale with Catena’s fire power behind them”.
Robert Andersson, chief executive of Catena Media, said: “This is a perfect example of an acquisition in line with our global growth strategy.
“It’s going to be a game changer within our sport segment, and we will be well positioned for an eventful 2018, which includes both winter Olympics and World Cup in football.
“And, with the presence in Australia, we add another geographical market which we will use as a beachhead to grow our market shares in Asia-Pacific.”
The transfer of assets and payment is expected to go through before the end of the month.
Related article: Catena acquires Delilah Holdings’ affiliate assets