British horseracing track operator Arena Racing Company Limited said it has acquired a controlling stake in virtual games developer Vermantia Media Group Limited to expand its global distribution capacity.
A price for the deal was not announced. Under the deal, Filippos Antonopoulos, Chief Executive Officer for Athens-based Vermantia will retain a shareholding stake and his current executive post.
Arena Racing operates 16 UK horseracing tracks including Royal Windsor Racecourse and Fontwell Park Racecourse.
The company said it will utilize Vermantia’s more than 20 gaming operators in 31 countries to expand its own global distribution capacity in a press release. The company also wants to assist Vermantia in enlarging its infrastructure and technology teams so that it may carry on designing innovative content for digital and retail channels.
“Technological advancements mean that rights holders now have the opportunity to work together on both sale and delivery, making the old business model which relied on unconnected third parties outdated,” said Martin Cruddace, CEO of Arena Racing in the release. “In our view, rights holders no longer need to give away value to those third parties and our deals with horseracing and greyhounds in the United States, Australia and South Africa demonstrate that proposition.”
The company said it will add Vermantia’s Connect product to its own product offering, which will allow partners to enjoy a portfolio of virtual sports alongside some 60,000 live events every year encompassing horse and greyhound races from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and South Africa.
Vermantia will also continue serving as an exclusive international supplier of greyhound content from Arena Racing Company Limited while also supplying its parent with bespoke retail channels alongside distributing supplementary content, the release said.
