FEATURE
NEW BOSS WILL
‘HIT THE GROUND RUNNING’,
SAYS CATENA
Catena’s interim boss Henrik Persson Ekdahl is set to hand over the reins to Per Hellberg later this year.
Scott Longley finds out why Ekdahl is convinced they have the right man to take over the role on a
permanent basis and looks at the company’s strategy for mergers and acquisition targets beyond the
gambling space
Catena Media’s Henrik Persson Ekdahl
issued a stark message to operators about
its position in the consolidating affiliates
space, suggesting operators “can’t live
without us” as the firm announced
Per Hellberg would be taking up a
permanent role as head of the company
later this year.
Ekdahl will remain as a board member
and shareholder at Catena once Hellberg
is in post. Hellberg was previously chief
executive at Readly International and
led NordicBet at the time it was acquired
by Betsson.
Speaking to iGaming Business, Ekdahl,
who stepped into the post on a temporary
basis last September, said the appointment
of Hellberg was a long and complicated
process owing to the demands of the role.
At the time of the last results, Ekdahl
spoke about the full-time, three-man M&A
team that sources new opportunities. He
said they see between two and five potential
deals every week. “That’s companies we
haven’t seen before,” he added.
But what is now evident about Catena
Media is the scale of the operation. As
Ekdahl points out, Catena now employs
300 people “solely thinking about lead
generation”, and when this translates to
new depositing customers, it demonstrates
Catena’s importance to its operator partners.
“We’re not trying to be cocky,” he said.
“We are not super-aggressive. Many of
our customers are a joy to work with.
They have also upped their game.”
Ekdahl added that many of Catena’s
conversations with operators now
“Ekdahl says that any acquisition target needs be worth
at least €400,000 a month in revenues”
“We had to be really sure about who
we were handing the keys to the kingdom
to,” said Ekdahl. “We want them to hit the
ground running.”
This “ground” is a sector that is
witnessing a fast-accelerating process
of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Catena Media is, Ekdahl agrees, the
most prominent consolidator in the space,
with 28 deals to date under its belt since
2014 and with the promise of many
more to come.
Following the results, the company
announced a bond issue that will
substantially increase its presence in the
marketplace. The new €150m facility
replaces a €100m bond which was expected
to mature next year and comes with better
finance terms.
occur with more senior staff and those
discussions are more strategic. “We are
the natural partner for conversations about
new markets,” he said.
“When we sit down with an operator, we
can say that we can send them thousands
of new distribution capabilities.”
Moving the dial
The scale of the operation also has a
centrifugal effect when it comes to further
consolidation, meaning any acquisitions
need to be substantial enough to “move
the dial”.
Pointing to Catena’s Q4 revenues
of €20.1m, Ekdahl explained that any
acquisition target needs to be worth at least
€400,000 a month in revenues. “Then it
might make a difference for us,” he said.
He is also keen to point out that Catena
feels it has “set the standard” on multiples
paid for acquisitions. Even though the size
of more recent deals involving Catena is
on the rise – the BayBets deal, for instance,
was worth €26.5m upfront while the
price-tag on Dreamworx was €9.5m – the
multiples it pays have remained stable at
between four and six times the EBITDA.
Ekdahl added that this is not the case
elsewhere. “In some jurisdictions, I have
seen other affiliates paying way too much
for an asset that we believe is not worth it,”
he said.
The risk as Catena sees it lies in the
business practices of some other affiliates.
“We can’t afford to buy an asset and then a
month later Google does an update and the
business disappears,” Ekdahl said.
Ekdahl concluded that as soon as he is
in post Hellberg’s task will be to continue
Catena’s push beyond the online gaming
space. Although 95% of current revenues
comes from gambling, Catena Media has
now also edged into the retail financial
sector, something that Ekdahl is bullish
about. “We are a lead generator that
happened to start in online gambling,”
he said, “but if we want to we can direct
traffic anywhere.”
SCOTT LONGLEY has
been a journalist since the
early noughties covering
personal finance, sport and
gambling. He has worked for
a number of publications including
Investment Week, Bloomberg Money,
Football First, eGaming Review
and Gambling Compliance. He now
runs his own editorial consultancy,
Clear Concise Media, and writes for
a number of online and print titles.
iGB Affiliate Issue 68 APR/MAY 2018
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