Part 2: The changing affiliate landscape
number of sites you can handle will
fall quite dramatically. Then you
build again.”
Ryan Henderson, head of affiliates
at Kindred Group, agrees that at least
in the short term the tide has gone
out on affiliate M&A. “I think this
slowdown was widely expected,” he
says. “There has been such a flurry
of activity that those companies
investing now need to take the time
to consolidate their assets. With an
increased focus on compliance, I
imagine many are having to work
hard to make the necessary updates
to their network of sites.”
Integration is a key issue. The
Catena Media Capital Markets Day
presentation pointed out that the
34 acquisitions meant the tech team
had to deal with 34 different content
management systems (CMS).
Of note is that few if any of
the acquisitions that have been
announced in the gambling affiliate
marketing sector make much of cost
synergies, with the focus instead
falling upon the hoped-for revenue
synergies. Yet that arrives only after
the effort has been expended in
knitting the organisations together.
“The hardest part of any M&A
is the integration,” says Gavin
Walters, director of business
development at Gambling.com.
“This is a time-consuming process
and one that must be carried
out with precision. Companies
need resources to assist with the
acquisition of a new business so
I feel this is playing a part in the
decline of new acquisitions.”
Table 1: M&A deals in the first six months of 2018
Date Acquirer Target Market focus
Initial price Total w/ earnout
Jan-18 XL Media Good Game Finland €7m €15m
Jan-18 Cherry/Game Lounge Slot Tracker Scandinavia €1m €1.2m
Jan-18 Catena Media Dreamworx Germany Feb-18 Meta Gambling Afiliados Gaming Latin America Mar-18 1st Leads Bingoport.co.uk UK Mar-18 Catena Media BonusSeeker.com Apr-18 Better Collective Apr-18
Unknown
£2m £2.4m
US/New jersey $6.5m $16m
Xpertan/Xpert Denmark Undiscl Undiscl
Cherry/Game Lounge TodaysWeb SEO specialist SEK14m Apr-18 Catena Media BrokerDeal.de Germany – financial
services €1.2m €3.6m
Apr-18 Catena Media ParisSportifs.com France €8.2m €13.7m
Apr-18 Catena Media gg.co.uk UK Apr-18 XL Media WhichBingo UK May-18 Racing Post Apsley Group UK Undiscl Undiscl
May-18 Raketech Casinofeber.se Sweden Undiscl Undiscl
May-18 Net Gaming Webwiser Germany €2.29m €3.5m
Jun-18 Raketech Shogun Media Scandinavia Unkn Unkn
Jun-18 Catena Media ASAP Italia Italy €12.5m €22m
Source: iGaming Business/Clear Concise Media
10
€9.5m
Under pressure: Regulation and the evolution of affiliate marketing
£2m