betbull Takes Over Full Ownership of Spanish JV

Following a financial restructuring between betbull Holding SE and bwin Interactive Entertainment, betbull has now taken over full ownership of the Spanish joint venture Betbull Bwin Espana (BBE), which developed and launched the w1nners branded betting shops in Madrid this year.

The two companies have agreed to the conversion of the €2.5 million convertible loan note of betbull issued to bwin in November 2007 into 1.25 million ordinary shares of €1 in betbull.

bwin and betbull have also agreed to the transfer of bwin’s 49% share in Betbull Bwin Espana S.A to betbull in exchange for the issue of 1,101,124 ordinary shares in accordance with their agreement on 2007 when setting up and funding BBE.

Following this transfer betbull now owns the entire issued share capital of BBE.

betbull’s issued share capital has increased by 2.3 million ordinary shares to 10.9 million, with bwin’s overall shareholding now amounting to over 4 million shares, representing 37%of the total share capital of betbull.

“The convertible loan note and bwin’s participation as a stake holder in BBE have enabled initial development of the Madrid venture and the objectives of those financial structures have been satisfied,” said Simon Bold, Director of betbull Holding SE.

“The restructuring serves to regularise and tidy up the setup of the two companies, bringing all retail activities into the betbull group. bwin continues to support betbull as the major stake holder with just short of 37% of total shareholding.”

Betbull Bwin Espana secured a retail betting licence in the province of Madrid last September and plans to open 120 w1nners betting shops in the region over the next four years.

Shares in betbull Holding SE (Co. Profile) (BETB.VI) are currently trading at €1.20 per share in Vienna this morning, while shares in bwin Interactive Entertainment AG (Co. Profile) (BWIN.VI) are trading at €38.11 per share.