| Deals of the Year 2023: Fastball capitalises on Flutter’s share price momentum |
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| KKR-led investment group Fastball Holdings took a flutter in late 2020 when it sold a 37.2 per cent stake in US sports-betting company FanDuel to Flutter for a total consideration of GBP3.13 billion, half of which was paid for in the latter’s shares. Since then it has been taking opportunities to scale back its stake in the FTSE100 betting company. |
Last November, on the back of positive share price momentum for Flutter Entertainment plc, 3 per cent shareholder Fastball Holdings, a consortium comprising KKR & Co, Shamrock Capital and Comcast Ventures, CapitalG (the investments arm of Google’s parent Alphabet), NBC Sports Group and Verizon Ventures, undertook an accelerated placement of secondary shares to halve its stake in the mobile and online gaming services provider.
In so doing it was taking advantage of Flutter’s near 25 per cent improvement in share price over the preceding six months after well-received H1 2022 and Q3 2022 results. The value of the transaction was about GBP300 million (€350m).
BofA Securities acted as Joint Bookrunner on the accelerated placement of secondary shares. Book building launched shortly after market close on 23rd November 2022 and the transaction was covered within 15 minutes post launch. The transaction priced at GBP114, a one per cent discount on the previous close. This represented the tightest discount seen since September 2021 on European secondary ABBs greater than $150 million.
Fastball Holdings obtained an initial 6.7 per stake in Flutter in late 2020 as part of a deal that increased the Irish-registered company’s presence in the US market. Fastball sold its 37.2 per cent stake in the US sports-betting company FanDuel to Flutter for a total consideration of GBP3.13 billion, half paid for in cash and the balance by the issue of 11.7 million shares valued at GBP1.56 billion. That transaction lifted Flutter’s stake in FanDuel to 95 per cent.
Advisers on the November placing were Slaughter & May, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. PwC provided tax advice and execution support.
Since this transaction the KKR-led investment group has sold down more of its stake in Flutter through a placing. In April 2023 it sold 2.2 million shares at GBP149.10 each to generate a further €328 million, leaving it with a stake now worth less than GBP65 million. |
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