BETSAFE PRICE RISES FOLLOWING ACHIEVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE TARGETS

Friday September 9, 2011 : Betsson sweetens acquisition price by Euro 15 million
 
Online gambling group Betsafe has boosted its acquisition price in the Betsson deal  by meeting important performance targets.
 
After buying the online casino, poker and sportsbetting operator earlier this year for an initial fee of Euro 34 million in cash and shares, Sweden’s Betsson AB has now agreed to pay the former Betsafe owners a further Euro 15 million in shares in terms of the acquisition agreement.
 
Malta-based and Scandinavian-facing Betsafe increased revenues in 2010 by 119 percent to Euro 25.9 million and reported twelve-month unaudited revenues to the end of May of Euro 33.4 million with an operating profit of Euro 6.9 million.
 
Betsson finalised its acquisition of Artic Invest AS, the holding company for Betsafe, in June and agreed to ante up an additional Euro 27.5 million in cash or shares ‘based on the development of the acquisition and the integration thereof during 2011’ to take the total purchase price to a maximum of Euro 60 million.
 
“Betsafe has reached the targets in 2011 for the additional purchase price amounting to Euro15 million,” a Betsson spokesman said this week. “If conditions are further fulfilled, the remaining part of the additional purchase price, up to Euro 12.5 million, is estimated to be paid up until the end of the first quarter of 2012."
 
Betsson informed interested parties this week that it will be issuing 1,056,403 new Class-B shares at Euro 14.55 each to the sellers of Betsafe, taking its total issued share capital to 41,394,392.