Difficult debut for Lottomatica which looks to new acquisitions
The quotation of did not start in the best way Lottomatica in Piazza Affari on the Euronext Milan price list. The title of the big name in Italian gaming opened immediately down, with a decline that came close to 10%, and is now traded at 8.28 euros (-8%). Yet the company that belongs to the fund of English private equity firm Apollo had closed the book of shares intended for placement only an hour and a half after opening, with subscriptions of several times the amount of shares offered.
And the same goes for the share price, set at the lowest level of the range at 9 euros despite strong requests from foreign (90%) and Italian institutional investors.
690 million euro raised for growth
Lottomatica is not at its first experience on the stock exchange. In fact, until three years ago the company was listed on the Star segment of Borsa Italiana. Then the entrance to the Apollo fund and the delisting. Through this new placement, the online betting and gaming group has raised 690 million euros it says of the managing director Guglielmo Angelozzi they will be used to seize “opportunities for organic and external growth”.
In fact, Lottomatica “has always pursued two paths and for this reason we continue to look at dossiers and then make decisions”. In recent years, the group with a turnover of 1.4 billion euros and 22.8 billion in funding has made “four significant acquisitions from which it has extracted great synergies” recalled Angelozzi “and is looking with interest at areas such as Italy, Europe and the B2c segment”.
Tripled Ebitda and digital to 50% in three years
Angelozzi declined to comment on the performance of the stock on the Stock Exchange, but underlined that the decision to set the price in the lower part of the range was made “to be more market friendly and to build a quality book“. Emphasizing that Apollo “had the courage to take this step in a market moment like the current one, but only given the medium and long-term development opportunities”. In the last 3 years, in fact, “Apollo’s entry has allowed the group to triple Ebitda and to make Lottomatica the first company in Italy by strengthening the business portfolio with digital having risen from 12 to 50%”.