David Attenborough, Tabcorp’s managing director, said that it wasn’t surprising that the lottery and sports betting provider was seeing an increasing number of suitors interested in the company’s wagering arm recently.
Entain, the British gambling behemoth behind brands such as Ladbrokes and Neds, has already expressed an interest in Tabcorp’s wagering division and is reported to have also made a $3 billion bid.
Another company credited with an interest is the US private equity firm Apollo, which has also said that it would consider buying Tabcorp’s sports wagering department.
Wagering Profits Will Only Improve – Tabcorp Boss
According to Tabcorp’s managing director, the interest the company is seeing is nothing surprising. Mr Attenborough said that the integration of TAB and UBET, stemming from Tabcorp’s merger with lotteries provider Tatts Group, was almost finalized. That the partnership would pay dividends for years to come, said Mr Attenborough.
Factor in the additional investments in Tabcorp’s wagering arm, and you would instantly see why buyers would want to acquire the sports betting department, according to Mr Attenborough.
He said that despite the losses that Tabcorp’s retail wagering division suffered because of COVID-19, the investments that have been made in the company will put Tabcorp’s betting division on a similar level with established betting names such as Sportsbet.
However, Tabcorp suitors should know that all offers would be carefully considered by Tabcorp’s board and they would also have to get approval from the racing industry and regulators.
Shareholders Happy But Only if the Price Is Right
Patrick Potts, the head of the Martin Currie fund which owns around 2 per cent of Tabcorp, is probably speaking for all Tabcorp shareholders when he says that shares owners would be happy to see the wagering division “offloaded for the right price“.
According to Mr Potts, even though Tabcorp’s wagering arm was showing a lot of promise right now, it still had to deal with a decline in profits of its online betting section and with a very real possibility of losing even more market share to online competitors such as Sportsbet and Ladbrokes.
