Saturday January 10,2015 : BELGIAN ONLINE GAMBLING OPERATOR ABOUT TO CHANGE HANDS
Dutch private equity fund Waterland has its sights set on Napoleon Games.
Dutch media are reporting the imminent sale of Mieke Michiels' Belgian-licensed Napoleon Gaming land and online gambling group to Waterland, a Dutch private equity company, for an unknown consideration.
Napoleon brands include the land Casino Knokke, through which the company obtained an internet gambling licence in the hard-nosed Belgian online gambling market.
Michiels' online interests embrace casino and sportsbetting operations, and the company sponsors AA Ghent, a Belgian football club, along with the Sunweb professional cycling team.
The transaction is timely, with the Dutch government gearing up for liberalised online gambling regulation later this year
Through the deal Waterland, which additionally holds gambling assets in Germany and the Netherlands, also gains the rights to operate 23 gambling venues across Belgium.