SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
A newly privatised Française des Jeux (FDJ) has moved to strengthen its retail services by sanctioning a buyout of French payment solutions provider Bimedia.
The newly listed Paris Exchange gambling enterprise confirms that it has ‘entered an agreement’ with European private equity fund Idinvest Partners to acquire its Bimedia asset for ‘less than €50 million’.
Updating investors, FDJ governance states that its Bimedia transaction will significantly expand the firm’s retail network services, taking control of Bimedia’s 6,400 ‘points of sale’ terminals which service 90% of France’s tobacconists and newsagents.
FDJ governance has marked the Bimedia transaction as critical to the firm’s 2025 strategic vision, which seeks to modernise FDJ retail network and further diversify the firm’s customer services.
Concluding its corporate update, FDJ governance confirms that the completion of its Bimedia transaction will be subject to regulatory approvals and conditions, which will include a review of the acquisition bid by France’s Competition and Markets Authority.
This November, FDJ completed a successful float on the Paris Euronext Exchange, in which its first stage IPO secured an over-subscription of + €1 billion from public investors.
An oversubscribed FDJ is currently trading at €21.80 per-share, well above its listings target range €16.50-19.90 – valued as Europe’s second largest lottery operator at +€4 billion.
