Flutter completes €1.91bn Sisal acquisition

Flutter said that it received all of the necessary regulatory confirmations for the acquisition and was able to close the deal yesterday (4 August).

The group in December 2021 brokered a deal worth €1.91bn (£1.61bn/$1.95bn) to purchase Sisal, saying that it was part of its strategy of investing to build leadership positions in regulated markets around the world.

Sisal is the licensee for the Italian national lottery, as well as those of Morocco and Turkey, the last of these being run through a joint venture with local business Demirören Holding.

The business was also in the running for the UK’s fourth National Lottery licence, but lost out to Allwyn.

Aside from its lottery activities, Sisal is a leading betting and gaming operator in its native Italy and has also expanded into Spain in partnership with Sportnco.

Since the merger was announced in December, Sisal has performed strongly, posting a 58% year-on-year increase in revenue for the first half of 2022 to £402m while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation climbed 51% to £120m over the same period.

Flutter completed the transaction using debt facilities agreed at the time of the original on 23 December 2021, bringing Flutter’s expected weighted average cost of debt to approximately 3.4% for H2 2022.