State-backed French gaming company La Francaise des Jeux (FdJ) is set to buy Stockholm-listed gambling group Kindred in a deal worth $2.7 billion.
Kindred’s board published a statement on Monday announcing a unanimous recommendation for shareholders to accept FdJ’s all-cash offer for the Unibet and 32Red gambling brands operator. The offer valued Kindred’s stock at SKR130 ($12.42) per share. The acquisition positions FdJ as a prominent online betting operator in France, where it holds a lottery services monopoly, and opens doors for international expansion.
Post-deal, international revenues for FdJ will increase to a fifth of its business, compared to the current 6 percent, owing to Kindred’s 30+ million total and around 1.5 million active customers in regions that include Western Europe, Scandinavia and Australia.
The acquisition concludes a protracted sales process initiated by Kindred in April of last year, following a warning about a significant decline in full-year revenues and profits for 2022. The decline was attributed to Kindred’s withdrawal from the Netherlands, one of its major markets. Activist investors, including Corvex Management and Eminence Capital, exerted pressure on Kindred to pursue a sale, with Corvex being the largest shareholder with a 15 percent stake.
FdJ’s chair, Stephane Pallez, highlighted that the combination would strengthen the strategic positioning of the French lottery operator in sports betting. Pallez emphasized Kindred’s status as a leading operator in the market, citing strong brands, advanced technology platforms, an attractive growth profile, and a dedicated approach to responsible gambling.
