HgCapital acquires betting leader for £76m

HgCapital acquires betting leader for £76m

	Published : Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:05 By : David Simms Print this Story

Sports spread betting giant, Sporting Index, was sold off to HgCapital on Tuesday for £75.8m by its owner, Duke Street Capital. Duke Street Capital bought the betting leader in 2002 after backing a management buyout worth £53m, which was headed by Sporting’s chief executive, Richard Glynn.

Being the world’s biggest spread better in sports and entertainment claiming a sizeable share of at least 70% of the British market, Sporting Index is the only sports spread betting company to provide betting continuously for 24 hours, along with betting facilities on Sky TV, telephone, as well as the internet. Glynn notified that Index recorded a higher number of bets than other betting groups like Ladbrokes and Coral during the latest Ashes Test series.

He added that about 80% of the company’s management and staff with stakes had proved their commitment to their company by opting to plough back the money into the firm rather than cashing all of it in.

Meanwhile, Index’s new owner, HgCapital revealed lofty plans for the gambling group, and said that it intended to expand it beyond the UK market, throughout the European continent, “both organically and by acquisition”.

A partner at Hg, Ben Hewetson, said, “It is at a fundamental crossroads. Growth has until now been domestic and mainly sports betting. There are interesting opportunities - we want to tackle different geographies and get on with new products. That takes a different investment rationale.”

Richard Glynn will continue as the chief executive at Sporting Index just as the management of the betting group will remain the same. Glynn expects betting to improve tremendously once 3G mobile phones get going in Britain, since many will then be able to gamble or bet irrespective of where they are.