FDJ Completes Kindred Acquisition For NZ$4.5m
Française des Jeux (FDJ) completed its acquisition of Kindred Group for NZ$4.5 billion (EUR 2.46 billion). In its official statement, FDJ states that this acquisition is expected to position the company as a leading force in the European gambling industry. FDJ’s current activities are limited to France and Ireland. With the Kindred acquisition the company hopes to expand its reach throughout Europe.
The acquisition process began earlier this year with the Swedish gambling giant accepting the French lottery operator’s offer of NZ$4.5 billion (EUR 2.46 billion) in late January. A month later, the deal progressed after Sweden’s financial regulator, the SFSA announced its approval for the deal. The official announcement comes after months of rumours of different gambling operators wanting to acquire the gambling company.
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“Next Step Towards European Market Dominance”
On 3 October 2024, Française des Jeux (FDJ) announced that the acquisition of Kindred Group had been officially completed. This announcement came one day after the offer period ended on October 2nd. In total, FDJ acquired 195,659,291 Kindred Swedish Depositary Receipts (SDRs), representing 90.66% of the share capital. Additionally, the French gambling company also directly acquired 2,400,000 Kindred SDRs from Veralda, accounting for 1.11% of the share capital.
Stéphane Pallez, Chairwoman and CEO of FDJ, expressed her enthusiasm about the acquisition:
“I am delighted to announce today the acquisition of Kindred, a leading European player in competitive online betting and gaming. Kindred has strong brands, recognised technological excellence, and an attractive growth and profitability profile, which will further strengthen FDJ’s market position. Both groups share high standards for responsible gambling and a business model that combines performance with responsibility. This acquisition creates a new European leader, ready to continue its strategy of sustainable and profitable growth for the benefit of all its stakeholders.”
Stéphane Pallez, Chairwoman and CEO of FDJ
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Final Offer Period and Settlement Details for Kindred Shareholders
FDJ has announced that Kindred shareholders who have not yet offered their shares can still accept the offer of SEK 130 (NZ$22.36 / EUR 11.44) per SDR until October 18th. The total acquisition deal amounts to nearly NZ$4.5 billion (EUR 2.46 billion). The settlement of the agreement is expected to take place from October 29th. According to FDJ, this transaction creates a European leader with a diversified and balanced profile, highlighting its monopoly activities, mainly in lotteries, in both France and Ireland. Additionally, the acquisition marks a significant step forward in the areas of sports betting and online casinos in Europe.
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Board Changes at Kindred After The Acquisition
The acquisition of Kindred Group by La Française des Jeux (FDJ) has already led to changes in Kindred’s leadership. On 14 October 2024, several key members of the board of directors, including Chairman Evert Carlsson, stepped down. Shortly later, the French gambling company appointed three new directors, with Pascal Chaffard named as the new Chairman.
Along with Evert Carlsson, James H. Gemmel, Cédric Boireau, Andrew McCue, Jonas Jansson, and Kenneth Shea also resigned from their positions at Kindred. Gemmel was a representative of Corvex Management, which was the largest shareholder until recently. However, Heidi Skogster and Martin Randel will remain on the board for the time being.
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About Kindred Group
Kindred Group is one of the biggest online gambling operators in the world with its offer stretching from its native Sweden to other continents, including North America and Oceania. Founded in 1997, Kindred serves over 30 million customers worldwide. In addition to its flagship brand, Unibet, the group operates eight other brands internationally, including Maria Casino, Bingo.com, 32Red Casino, and Vlad Cazino. Unibet’s website is available in both Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, Kindred uses a local licence whilst it works with its European licence to offer its gambling site in New Zealand. Kindred Group is a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap. Unibet offers a combination of a sportsbook, online casino, live dealer casino, online poker, and online bingo.
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Journey to Zero Campaign
Kindred’s commitment to responsible gambling plays an important role in its business model that combines performance with responsibility. Kindred announced in July that the company saw a decline in its revenue from problem gambling In the second quarter of 2024. According to its most recent report on responsible gambling, Kindred’s share of revenue from problem gambling dropped from 3.2% in the first quarter of 2024 to 3.0% in Q2 2024. The company’s goal is to eventually reduce this percentage to 0%.
Each quarter, Kindred publishes its revenue figures related to problem gambling as part of its “Journey to Zero” initiative. The aim of this initiative is for the company to no longer generate any revenue from problem gamblers. The percentage of 3,0% in the second quarter of 2024 marks the lowest point since the company began tracking this statistic in the first quarter of 2020.
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