Better Collective Share Issue Raises €150m

Sports betting affiliate Better Collective has raised SEK1.5bn (£129m/US$183m/€150m) by issuing 6.9 million shares in a bid to create liquidity for future M&A.

The move follows news earlier this month that Better Collective has agreed the acquisition of US sports media business the Action Network for US$240m (£169m/€197m).

Offered at SEK 218 per share, the subscription price in the transaction was determined through an accelerated book-building process, under which the firm’s board of directors agreed the price was in accordance with market conditions.

In a statement to investors, the firm described the transaction as “significantly oversubscribed due to high demand from institutional and other professional investors”.

The transaction means a dilution of approximately 12.8 per cent of the number of shares and votes in the company. The number of outstanding shares and votes will increase by 6,880,734 from 46,984,072 to 53,864,806.

The share capital will increase by €68,807.34 from €469,840.72 to € 538,648.06. Investors who bought shares in the transaction will receive them on 31 May 2021.

As part of the transaction, Better Collective has agreed to a lock-up undertaking on future share issuances for a period of 90 days. The lock-up is subject to certain exceptions, including that the firm can carry out share issuances if done so in pursuit of an acquisition or in connection its management incentive programmes.

Better Collective co-founder and CEO Jesper Søgaard said: “I am pleased to see the high level of support of our company from both existing as well as new shareholders. We are very excited about the transaction and the market’s receptiveness of the acquisition of Action Network Inc, which underpins our strategy to capitalise on the unprecedented market opportunity in the US within sports betting affiliation. With the proceeds from this transaction, we maintain a flexible capital structure in order to be able to act on future strategic opportunities.”

Published on:

Editorial Tags: