Apollo takes betting business Gamenet private

The deal gives the company an enterprise value of around €810m.

Apollo acquired a 48.67% stake in Gamenet for €182.5m in October 2019 via Gamma Bidco, which is controlled by its $24.6bn Apollo Management IX fund. Apollo acquired a 28.67% stake from TCP Lux Eurinvest – a holding company controlled by Trilantic Capital Partners Europe and the Chiarva family – for €107.5m, and a 20% stake from Intralot for €75m.

Apollo bought additional shares in the company in December 2019, reaching control of around 66.5%, and subsequently launched a take-private bid on January 27.

The offer was launched on a maximum of 10,193,124 ordinary shares, equal to approximately 33.5% of the share capital, at a price of €13.00 per share. Apollo acquired 6,378,689 shares, equal to around 21% for €82.9m. In addition, Apollo also bought 2,774,868 shares on the market during the tender period, equal to 9.14%, reaching ownership of 96.58%.

Banca IMI and Equita SIM acted as tender agents. Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison and Latham & Watkins were legal advisers to Apollo.

Previous funding
Trilantic initially purchased an 80% stake in Gamenet for €50m in November 2010, with an estimated enterprise value of €200m. The GP invested in Gamenet via its €574m Trilantic Capital Partners IV Europe fund.

In 2013, Gamenet listed a €200m note on the Italian ExtraMot Pro market with a fixed 7.25% rate, due to mature in August 2018. In 2014, the GP increased its shareholding to 99.2%.

Subsequently, the company acquired a 51% stake in Billions Italia and six months later fully purchased GNetwork in March 2015. In June 2016, the business merged with the Italian-based activities of Greek listed gaming market operator Intralot Group. The deal saw Intralot acquire a 20% stake in the merged entity. In the same month, the group acquired a 70% stake in Jolly Videogiochi and a 51% holding in New Matic.

In July 2016, Banca IMI and Unicredit arranged a €30m revolving credit facility for the business. Gamenet went on to purchase a 60% stake in Agesoft, a software developer for amusement and entertainment devices, and fully acquired Gamecity, a Lucca-based slot halls manager.

In August 2016, the business refinanced its debt with €200m's worth of high-yield, non-convertible and non-subordinate, senior secured five-year bonds with a 6% coupon, due to mature in 2021. The note was listed on the Euro MTF market.

Gamenet listed on the Milan stock exchange in December 2017 in a €225m IPO at 750 cents per share.

Following the institutional placement, Trilantic and Intralot held around 45% and 20% of the company's capital, respectively. Trilantic sold an additional 15% in the company in May 2019, reducing its stake to around 30%.

Trilantic sold the remainder of its stake in Gamenet to Apollo in October 2019 and reaped a 3.5x return.

Company
Founded in 2016 and based in Rome, Gamenet is a betting and gambling group, comprising video lottery, amusement-with-prize, gaming halls and online betting. It generated EBITDA of €119m from revenues of €531m in the nine months ending in September 2019 and reported net debt of around €412m.

People
Gamenet – Guglielmo Angelozzi (CEO).

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