Better Collective has acquired Canadian-listed digital sports media firm Playmaker Capital to bolster its consumer-facing brands across the Americas.
Terms on the deal sheet reveal that the affiliate marketing publisher has agreed to pay $187.7m for Playmaker Capital, making it the second-largest acquisition in its history.
Following the deal’s closure, Better Collective will take control of the firm’s network of sporting websites including FutbolSites, Yardbarker, and The Nation Network.
A flagship soccer-related website, Futbol Sites attracts over 180 million visitors each month producing content for online, social media, video, and podcasts as South America’s largest fan-favorite sports community. The full stable of Playmaker Capital’s portals generates over 200 million monthly visitors.
The firm will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Better Collective as the Stockholm-listed publisher expects to “significantly ramp up its media capabilities and expand its audiences across its sports media portfolio”.
Jesper Søgaard, Co-founder & CEO of Better Collective, stated: “Acquiring Playmaker Capital is in many ways transformational for Better Collective and will be an important milestone in our journey towards becoming the leading digital sports media group. Upon closing of the acquisition, we will significantly grow our audience and reach a larger segment of generalist sports fans.
“For years, Playmaker Capital has built incredibly strong sports media brands and excited sports fans across the Americas with high-quality sports content, cultivating a loyal and dedicated following.
“The skilled team behind Playmaker Capital brings a unique set of media competencies that will boost our organization. Saying that I am excited to welcome the new team to the Better Collective group would be an understatement.”
Better Collective outlined that it will fund the transaction through a mixture of share allocation (65%) and cash reserves (35%). Breaking down the allocation of shares, around 1.7 million new shares will be issued and 1.4 million existing shares will be used to fund the deal.
Playmaker Capital has generated 12-month revenue of $58.7m as of the end of Q3 trading, with an EBITDA contribution of $16m. As the new owner of the business, Better Collective anticipates that it will align the group to fit into its 40% EBITDA margin targets.
Meanwhile, Better Collective will update investors on new financial targets for the period of 2023-2027 in due course once the deal has been finalized.
The transaction is expected to close before the end of Q1 2024, when Playmaker Capital will be integrated into the Better Collective group.
Jordan Gnat, Co-Founder & CEO of Playmaker Capital, added “Over the past 12 months I have been talking a lot about a transformational deal for Playmaker and its shareholders that will take this company to the next level. Today’s announcement does exactly that and I could not be more excited for the Playmaker family to join the Better Collective family.
“Their success is undeniable and their vision to become the leading digital sports media group aligns with us exactly. The cultures of our companies are very similar and I see the integration and synergies to be incredibly accretive to shareholders.”
