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Flutter Entertainment and Fastball Holdings moved quickly to finalize their agreement for Fastball to sell 37.2% of FanDuel to Flutter.
The deal, which gives Flutter a 95% ownership stake in FanDuel, was announced earlier in December. To become final, it needed approval from Flutter shareholders, and this week the company said 99.9% of shareholders agreed.
Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming owns the other 5% of FanDuel.
The transaction was presented by Flutter to its shareholders on 3 December. The company said it would secure a discount to Flutter’s estimate of fair market value under the buyout option in the existing agreements it had with Fastball, and would represent a “potentially valuable opportunity in light of Flutter’s estimate of the intrinsic value of the business as well as a discount to the closest peer,” which it said was Draft Kings.
Flutter also said the deal would reduce shareholding complexity in the US, “increasing flexibility to optimize US structure over time.”
According to Flutter, the US market is the most attractive opportunity in the sports betting sector today, with the potential to generate very significant profits. It described FanDuel as a unique asset with a market leading brand and customer database that would provide Flutter with a “structural cost advantage.”
Flutter said it has raised approximately £1.1 billion from investors, including Fox Corporation, through a share placing.
Flutter intends to offer Fox the option to purchase 18.5% of FanDuel at fair market value in July 2021.
