Sportradar has reached an agreement with a special purpose acquisition company in a reverse merger agreement that will allow the company to go public, a source close to the talks said. Sports Strap Monday afternoon.
The source, with whom he spoke Sports Strap on condition of anonymity, did not disclose the name of SPAC or the terms of the deal. Although Sportradar, a Swiss-based sports betting data provider, may formally announce a partnership in the coming days, an announcement is not expected on Tuesday, the source said.
The deal comes at a time when speculation intensified last week that the data provider had considered a series of offers to go public, either through a SPAC or a traditional IPO. Last month, Sportico reported that Sportradar discussed deals in the range of $ 10- $ 12 billion, a considerable increase in the company’s valuation over the summer by about $ 8 billion. It is also unclear how much SPAC has collected from additional Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) commitments in relation to the business.
A spokesman for Sportradar did not respond to an inquiry into Sports Strap on Monday, if a deal with SPAC was struck.
Moment of an agreement
After a transformative year for the SPAC business in 2020, the market remained high during the first quarter of the year. At the end of February, 166 SPACs had filed for IPOs with 175 other companies looking for a target, according to SPACInsider.com. More than 245 SPACs went public last year, with an average IPO size of more than $ 330 million.
At the same time, several prominent names in the sports world have led efforts to form SPACs with a focus on sports betting, fueling speculation that Sportradar could line up with a major owner or star athlete.
In recent months, companies led by former New York Yankees hitter Alex Rodriguez, former Oakland A general manager Billy Beane and former Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein have filed for SPAC deals. .
Sports SPAC Arctos NorthStar also priced its IPO, raising $ 275 million. We saw SPAC for the first time, presenting Theo Epstein https://t.co/iVwPedqJUg via @sportico
#SportsBiz | #SPACs | $ ANACU– Brendan Coffey (@bpcoffey) February 23, 2021
Then, on February 22, Acies Acquisition II, a group led by former MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren, filed a $ 250 million order with SPAC. The group also includes Curtis Polk, financial advisor to Michael Jordan. In 2015, Jordan, the former Chicago Bulls star, participated in a $ 44 million investment round in Sportradar, along with Mark Cuban and Monumental Sports Entertainment CEO Ted Leonsis.
Other names that have emerged as possibilities for merging with Sportradar include SPACs formed by Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley and others formed by Chamath Palihapitiya, a minority owner of Golden State Warriors.
Sportradar is not necessarily looking for a SPAC with more capital, but one that can add value by helping the company deepen its relationship with professional sports leagues and betting operators, the sources say. Sportradar is also interested in expanding the relationship with media entities, another priority of the company.
Sportradar looking for public debut
Although Sportradar has partnered with the top four US professional sports leagues during the 2020 sports calendar, its deal with the NFL, which gave the company exclusive rights to distribute official league data to U.S. sportsbooks, is about to expire. The Athletic reported. Sportradar’s move to public markets could be a factor in negotiations with the NFL in a new gambling data partnership.
Get behind the scenes of our latest Nasdaq virtual opening bell: how to @DraftKings hit the public markets https://t.co/41aTjtZFZ0 #SPAC pic.twitter.com/uyGlRHHVfD
– Nasdaq (@Nasdaq) April 27, 2020
Sportradar is also thinking deeply about the listing as a public event, similar to DraftKings’ public debut last spring, according to a source. During the height of the pandemic, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins attended a virtual ringing ceremony last April to toast the company’s first day of trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
“They are hoping not for a fundamentals assessment, they are hoping for a type of DraftKings assessment … that impacts the type of assessment that investors place with it,” said the source.
Sportradar’s decision to go public via a SPAC route represents a change in strategy from previous years, when CEO Carsten Koerl preferred the traditional IPO path, another source said.
This is a story in development, more updates will come.