Australian betting operator BlueBet Holdings has completed the acquisition of certain assets of Merlehan Bookmaking, trading as TopSport.
The company said that following an initial agreement in early February, more than 63 million rows of TopSport customer data has now been migrated to the betr platform, including transactional data, pending bets and account balances.
The asset sale agreement has seen Bluebet acquire TopSport for an upfront payment of AU$10 million and a future earnout of at least $5 million.
The company said that it has already fully realised approximately $9 million in cost synergies ahead of deal completion.
“We have successfully completed the acquisition of TopSport, executing an innovative transaction structure that enabled us to migrate TopSport customers onto the betr platform prior to completion,” said BlueBet CEO Andrew Menz. “This materially de-risked the transaction and ensured that all anticipated cost synergies were fully realised within just 55 days of announcing the deal, without the need to operate the TopSport brand or wagering platform during the transition.
“This outcome reflects our repeatable and scalable M&A model, underpinned by the speed and precision of our migration team. Our ability to rapidly execute on the integration and migration with no disruption to our offering remains a key competitive advantage, delivering immediate value for our shareholders.”
The acquisition of TopSport brings betr closer to a market share in Australia of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent, with TopSport CEO Tristan Merlehan joining BlueBet’s management team as chief trading officer.
“With the successful integration of TopSport, our focus now shifts to further inorganic growth opportunities in the Australian market, including our compelling and fully funded proposal to acquire PointsBet,” continued Menz. “By providing the flexibility for PointsBet shareholders to choose a mix of cash and scrip, we believe ours is a superior proposal for shareholders to realise value in the short and long term.
“Our engagement with PointsBet shareholders remains overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to progressing our discussions with the PointsBet Board.”
Shares in BlueBet Holdings (ASX:BBT) closed 6.94 per cent lower at $0.34 per share in Sydney Tuesday.