Flutter announces completion of €1.91 billion Sisal acquisition

Leading betting and gaming operator Flutter Entertainment on Friday announced it has completed its acquisition of Italy’s Sisal.

Addressing the public, Flutter said it secured all necessary regulatory confirmations for the acquisition and was able to close the deal on Thursday (yesterday).

The €1.91 billion deal was first announced in December 2021. Flutter had said it was of the group’s strategy to invest in building leadership positions in regulated markets.

Sisal is well known in Italy due to it holding the national concession to operate the country’s lottery, as well as those of Morocco and Turkey.

Its operations in Italy also extend to betting and gaming, as well as in Spain through a partnership with Sportnco.

Sisal has performed strongly since the transaction was announced with year-on-year growth of 58 per cent in revenue to £402m and 51% in EBITDA to £120m during H1 2022¹. The prior year was impacted by Covid-related retail restrictions.

The transaction has been completed using debt facilities agreed at transaction announcement on 23 December 2021, bringing Flutter’s expected weighted average cost of debt to approximately 3.4 per cent for H2 2022.