OpCapita acquires Football Pools from Sportech for £83m

Under its new ownership model, the company will move into new headquarters in Liverpool and invest in product development and marketing activity. It will continue to be led by current managing director Conleth Byrne.

OpCapita is currently investing from its second fund, OpCapita Consumer Opportunities Fund II, which closed on its hard-cap of €350m in September 2016.

The sale by the trade vendor follows a digitalisation of The Football Pools and forms part of Sportech's strategy of divesting non-core assets, primarily those not based in the US.

The transaction is subject to approval from the UK's Gambling Commission and Sportech shareholders.

Company
The Football Pools was founded by Sportech in 2007 via the merger of three former football pools brands, namely Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters.

People
OpCapita – John Von Spreckelsen (chairperson).
The Football Pools Business – Conleth Byrne (managing director).
Sportech – Ian Penrose (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Dean Street Advisers, Kevin Berry (corporate finance).
Vendor – Investec, Chris Treneman, James Rudd, Patrick Robb, Henry Reast (corporate finance).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• United Kingdom
• OpCapita