Entain refinances debts and prepares for M&A with billion-dollar loan

The proceeds of the new loan will be used to refinance an existing $774m first lien term loan B, which is due to mature on 29 March, 2024. The new loan will also provide additional funds of $351m to support corporate development and merger and acquisition activity.

The loan has been priced at the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 250 basis points, or 2.5%.

The borrowers will be Entain’s wholly owned subsidiaries Entain Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited and GVC Finance LLC. The transaction is expected to close by the end of July.

Earlier this month, Entain increased its earnings forecast for the financial year 2021 to between £850m and £900m, following a strong first half of the year.

In a trading update, the operator said total net gaming revenue (NGR) was up by 42% in Q2, which suggests a total of around £2.23bn given H1 2020’s NGR of £1.62bn.

Entain also recently revealed it would double its investment into its in-house game studios. The group said that within a year, headcount would double to around 300 people across its three in-house studios in the UK, Italy and India.