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A leading global betting and gaming group and the UK's #1 high street bookmaker

Entain is one of the world’s largest sports betting and gaming groups, operating both online and in the retail sector. Via its proprietary technology platform, Entain offers sports betting, casino, poker and bingo online and owns a comprehensive portfolio of established brands such as sports brands bwin, Coral and Ladbrokes, and gaming brands such as Gala, Foxy Bingo, and partypoker. The company holds licences in more than 30 countries. 

In August this year, Entain agreed to acquire a 75% stake in SuperSport, the Croatian market leader in betting, casino and slots with a market share of 54%, allowing Entain to create a unique growth platform for its business in Central & Eastern Europe.

Strong investor demand for Term Loan B allows for upsizing

Seeking a bridge loan to enable the successful bid for SuperSport, Entain turned to NatWest to help structure a suitable debt package.

As a first step, in the role of Lead Arranger, the NatWest team arranged a €700 million bridge loan, in which NatWest was pleased to be able to take a leading share. In a second step NatWest acted as one of the Joint Bookrunners on a 7-year Term Loan B (TLB) launched to institutional investors. Strong investor demand allowed for considerable price tightening as well as an upsize of the loan from an original issue size of $750 million to $1 billion.

NatWest was also pleased to be able to assist Entain with hedging through the process.

NatWest’s One Bank approach delivers best outcome for customers

Charlie Sutters, Director of Tax, Treasury & Insurance, Entain, commented: “We are very pleased to have secured this funding package, which we will use to finance the acquisition of SuperSport and which will also provide further balance sheet flexibility. We thank the NatWest team for their excellent support and joined up approach in delivering a debt package that supports our objectives.”

Richard Bradbury, Managing Director, Leveraged & Acquisition Finance, NatWest, said: “We’re delighted to have supported Entain in very successfully accessing the market. The success, despite volatile markets, is testament to the business and management team. Our long-standing relationship and deep understanding of Entain’s business enabled our deal team to move quickly to support the transaction across lending, capital markets and hedging. This financing is yet another example of many teams across NatWest working closely together to swiftly deliver the best outcome for our customers, confirming the power of our One Bank approach.”

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