A cluster of corporate raiders and investors are set to sell their controlling shareholding in Spanish gaming giant Codere for more than €2 billion (£1.73bn/US$2.32bn), top banking and financial media sources have reported.
Madrid-headquartered Codere runs retail and iGaming operations in Spain, Italy, Mexico and many other regulated LatAm markets, among them, Panama, Colombia and Uruguay.
Drowning in debt, Codere was rescued in a complex financial package that handed control to its creditors in October, 2024.
The deal, orchestrated by elite law firm A&O Shearman, reduced the group debt to approximately €190 million (£164.43m/US$205.6m) from €1.4 billion (£1.21bn/US$1.5bn) and wrested control from its founding Martínez Sampedro family.
Now Codere–Spain’s second-largest gambling group, after Cirsa, is being put up for sale for more than €2 billion, reports financial paper of record Expansión.
Venture Capitalists
Owned by some 84 investment funds, Codere has hired Jefferies and Macquarie Capital to advise it on the sale.
The process is still in its initial phase, with indicative offers expected by mid-May, binding offers anticipated by early July, and the aim of closing the deal before the Northern Hemisphere summer holidays in August.
Codere has not responded to requests for comment.
Jefferies and Macquarie Capital has declined to comment.
Codere is owned by a clutch of hedge funds, led by Davidson Kempner, the largest shareholder, with a 13.3 percent stake, ahead of Palmerston Capital, Deltroit, System 2 Capital, and Invesco.
Potential bidders could include both industrial and financial investors, although some venture capital firms face restrictions related to ESG criteria when investing in the gaming sector, which could reduce the number of interested parties, according to Expansión in its article.
The sale would include the group’s premier Nasdaq-listed Codere Online brand.
