In its quest to acquire British rival Sky Betting and Gaming from current owners, CVC Capital Partners and Sky, Canadian online casino operator, The Stars Group Incorporated, has announced that it has raised approximately $622 million via the successful completion of a public share offering.
The Stars Group Incorporated, which is already responsible for virtual brands, PokerStars and FullTilt, used an official Tuesday press release to detail that the offering saw it sell some 17 million shares while a further eight million had been offloaded by stakeholders. The Toronto-based firm declared that the net proceeds are now due to be utilized ‘together with debt financing and cash on hand’ to fund its previously-announced purchase of Sky Betting and Gaming.
“If for any reason the acquisition does not close, the company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes,” read the June 26 statement from The Stars Group.
Previously known as Amaya Incorporated until a 2017 name-change, The Stars Group agreed a deal in April to pay around $3.6 billion in cash along with $1.1 billion in new common shares in order to acquire Sky. The firm, which is moreover the majority shareholder of Australian online sportsbetting operator, CrownBet, revealed at the time that this transaction is expected to close during the third quarter and will provide it with ‘multiple operational and financial benefits’ including ‘an increased presence in regulated markets’ such as the United Kingdom.
To further aid its purchase of Sky Betting and Gaming, Stars stated on Friday that it had launched an unsecured private loan offering in hopes of raising an additional $750 million. It proclaimed that these notes are to be sold in the United States ‘only to qualified institutional buyers’ and will come due in 2026.
“The Stars Group Incorporated intends to use the net proceeds from the offering together with the company’s previously announced equity offering, bank financing and cash on hand to fund the previously announced acquisition of Sky Betting and Gaming,” read the June 22 statement from the company.
