Betfred, the popular British sportsbook and casino operator, enters South Africa by purchasing Betting World after successfully concluding an agreement with Phumelela Gaming and Leisure. Phumelela’s subsidiary, Betting World is a South African sports betting operator that offers a wide variety of sports events for the punters, including football, cricket, rugby, basketball, tennis, golf, and many other sports.
However, the deal was not easy to make. Betfred has had intentions to foray into the South African market for a long time. But the company had to wait until now to be able to do it.
According to various sources, Phumelela has had serious economic difficulties in the last 12 months. Thus, Betfred had a chance to take advantage of the situation and buy the subsidiary. Ultimately, the takeover was welcomed by all parties.
The Details of The Deal
As part of the parent company, Phumelela’s business rescue plan, an update has been released that contains details about the deal. According to the update, Betfred reached an agreement on acquiring Betting World on 31 May 2021. The sale price is reported to be 120 million South African rands (about 8.7 million US dollars or 7.2 million euros). However, Phumelela disclosed that this price is not the final price because it has been subject to slight adjustments since then. The final price is expected to be announced in another rescue plan update in the near future.
Betfred seems to be extremely satisfied with its decision to acquire one of the most popular betting platforms in South Africa. The company believes that this purchase may be a great opportunity to become a top operator in the country. For the best betting sites in South Africa check the operators listed here.
Phil Siers who works as a Chief Commercial Officer at the company said regarding the purchase of Betting World:
“We are delighted to see the Betfred International service extended to South Africa, and look forward to becoming a leading South African bookmaker and providing a world class service to all our new customers.”
Despite the difficulties that the pandemic brought to many businesses all over the world, Betfred remains positive about the future:
“The last 12 months have been difficult for all businesses, but Betfred is excited about the future of Betting World and intends to make a major investment in Africa over the coming years.”
The Last Year Was Not Easy for Phumelela
Without any doubt, the last year was not easy for Phumelela. The company had to endure the severe economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.
First of all, the company had to suspend its trading activity on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) last summer. The reason: unfortunately, Phumelela couldn’t take it any longer financially and had to file for bankruptcy protection in South Africa.
Right after Phumelela’s assets had been placed under bankruptcy protection by the Johannesburg High Court, the company had no other choice left than to look for additional investors. This way, Phumelela still had a chance to avoid liquidation.
As the implementation of the business rescue plan, the company offered its South African horse-racing business for sale to get out of debt.
Interestingly, Betfred showed interest in Phumelela from the beginning. Betfred wanted to buy all the racetrack properties of Phumelela, so it made a generous offer of 875-925 million South African rands.
Regarding the offer, Betfred stated:
“Our intention with this offer is to reinvigorate a struggling industry and, in doing so, facilitate economic growth, job creation and access to international markets and best practices.
“Furthermore, the investment by an experienced multinational corporation into South Africa is likely to result in enhanced growth and opportunities for South Africa.”
However, one of Phumelela’s largest creditors, the Mary Oppenheimer Daughters (MOD) also had the intention to acquire the horseracing assets of the company. Since MOD is owned by the family members of one of the richest families in South Africa – Mary Oppenheimer-Slack and her daughter Jessica Jell – and it’s an existing creditor of Phumelela, MOD had much better chances than the British bookmaker when it came to buying the racetracks. Even though Betfred’s bid was significantly higher, the auditors refused to review Betfred’s offer and agreed to accept MOD’s bid.
Charles Savage, the spokesman for the restructuring task team was pleased with the deal:
“Mary Slack and Jessica Jell have a long history of horse racing and breeding in South Africa and they have a strong desire to secure the Phumelela racing assets for the immediate benefit of South African horse racing, as well as to assist in transforming racing to a long-term, sustainable and all-inclusive industry for the benefit of all concerned.”
Although Betfred couldn’t acquire the horse-racing business of Phumelela last summer, this time the company was able to purchase Betting World and got an opportunity to enter the South African sports betting market.
About Betfred
Betfred was founded in North England in 1967 by two brothers, Fred and Peter Done. The company’s name came from the combination of “bet” and “Fred”, one of the founder’s names. Although Betfred was established as a betting shop in the city of Manchester, England, by now the company has become one of the biggest sportsbook and casino operators in Europe. This rapidly growing business operates more than 1600 betting shops in the United Kingdom alone, and Betfred has one of the best betting and online casino products in the United Kingdom and Spain.
The company is also one of the most active sponsors regarding sports within the UK and in other countries. It sponsors plenty of sports and tournaments under its famous red and blue Betfred banner. For example, Manchester United, the Scottish Premier League Cup, the Super League Rugby, and the Betfred British Masters Golf are amongst the sponsored sporting franchises as well.
Betfred always had the intention to enter other markets outside Europe. Therefore, the fact that Betfred entered the South African market is not so surprising. The firm has also previously launched its sportsbook at the Grand Falls Casino and Golf Resort in the United States. This was Betfred’s first try to get into the sports betting market in the States.
Now that Betfred could successfully close the deal with Phumelela and acquire World Betting, nothing can stop the company from trying itself out in Africa. Several South African news sources mentioned that the purchase can potentially transform sports betting in the country. This is because Betfred has decades of experience in this field and great knowledge on how to create amazing sports betting experiences for punters. Ultimately, South Africa can benefit from this deal in the future as it can promote economic growth for the country as well.