XLMedia said it agreed to buy the business and assets of Sports Betting Dime (SBD) for about US$26M (£18.5M), enhancing its market position in the rapidly growing regulated US sports betting market.
The company also announced plans to raise a minimum of about £20mln via a placing and a subscription and up to a further £3M in an open offer. The net proceeds of the fundraising will be used mainly to finance the SBD purchase.
SBD is a leading US affiliate sports betting brand with a national website, sportsbettingdime.com, and two mobile apps. The website had more than 1.2 million visitors in January. The acquisition of SBD alongside XLMedia's existing US sports betting asset (CBWG), provides scale at local and national level.
“We are delighted with the progress of the CBWG business in North America in the short period since we acquired it in December, and we are excited by the potential synergy value from leveraging the scale, footprint and skills of SBD,” said Stuart Simms, chief executive of XLMedia.
"We believe the combination of Sports Betting Dime and CBWG provides the group with immediate scale and broad market reach at a time when US sports betting is experiencing significant growth momentum as additional states regulate and open up to legalised sports betting."
XLM also said it expects to deliver revenue of at least US$54.5M and an adjusted EDITDA of about US$11.5mln when it announces its full-year results at the end of next month. Revenues in the second half of 2020 saw a recovery following lockdown easing and the return of professional sports.
It added that revenue in the current year had started strongly, boosted by the addition of CBWG, with January 2021 revenue for the group of US$5.8M and EBITDA of US$1.4M.