Linklaters acts for the underwriters of the largest IPO in Europe this year

Linklaters has advised the financing parties on the Initial Public Offering of Lottomatica Group S.p.A. and the related High Yield / RCF refinancing and margin loan to Lottomatica’s majority shareholder, Apollo. 

Lottomatica is the leading player in the Italian gaming sector, which is the single largest gaming market in the European Union. It offers a broad range of products including sports betting and gaming (for both retail and online channels), operating as concessionaire and managing its own retail operations. Its principal shareholder is Apollo, one of the leading global alternative asset managers. 

The IPO is the largest in Europe thus far this year. The listing was on Borsa Italiana S.p.A. (Euronext Milan). It represented 26.5% (30.5% if overallotment exercised) of Lottomatica’s share capital and raised €600 million (€690 million if overallotment exercised) of gross proceeds. Lottomatica’s capitalisation at the start of trading will be €2.3 billion.

The refinancing included €1.1 billion bridge to High Yield and €350 million Revolving Credit Facility.

The margin loan has initial total commitments of €500 million.

Linklaters has previously advised the financing parties on a number of High Yield transactions by Lottomatica, relating to the initial take-private of Gamenet, the subsequent carveout of Lottomatica from IGT, the dividend recapitalisation of the combined group and the tack-on acquisition of Betflag.

The transactions were led by partners Alek Naidenov, Rohan Saha and Diego Esposito (financing), Ugo Orsini (equity) and Will Evans (margin loan).