Expansion continues for ARC with Vermantia acquisition

Arena Racing Company (“ARC”), the largest racecourse group in the UK, has acquired a majority stake in Vermantia, a leading provider of multi-channel content solutions worldwide.

As part of the deal, Vermantia Founder and Chief Executive, Filippos Antonopoulos will remain in his position as a shareholder in the business and shall carry on in his executive role.

The deal ensures ARC expands its international distribution capacity through Vermantia’s global partnership reach of 31 countries and agreements with more than 20 major gaming operators. Through the addition of Vermantia’s CONNECT, the product offering now includes over 60,000 live events every year made up of high quality horseracing and greyhound racing from the US, Australia, South Africa and the UK, all of which is supported by the widest portfolio of virtual sports in the industry.

ARC will accelerate Vermantia’s drive to create a global content hub in Athens, expand its technology team and infrastructure, and continue to design innovative solutions for the convergence of the retail and digital channels, and an ever-improving gaming experience.

Vermantia will continue to be the exclusive supplier of ARC’s portfolio of established greyhound content in a wide range of international markets, many of which already receive Vermantia’s betting channels, including most of South and Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, Vermantia will produce and deliver bespoke channels to retail operators as well as distributing additional content controlled by ARC.

ARC Chief Executive, Martin Cruddace, said: “ARC has established itself, along with its media partner At The Races, as the number one UK and international horse and greyhound content rights’ holder and distributor in the international market. The acquisition of Vermantia fits perfectly with our existing rights portfolio of traditional trusted BAGS greyhound content and premium international content.

“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to work together on both sale and delivery, making the old business model which relied on unconnected third parties, outdated. 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 US, Australia and South Africa demonstrate that proposition.”

Vermantia Founder & Chief Executive, Filippos Antonopoulos, added: “We are excited to have done this deal with the ARC team and look forward to leveraging the great chemistry between our teams to ensure a strong platform for our business.

“Our collaboration with ARC takes the racing product verticalisation to the next level, bridging the rights and financial reach of an industry stalwart with a technological vehicle that combines content technologies and betting technologies, bringing to market an end-to-end racing offering that truly sets us apart.

“We are looking forward to boosting Vermantia’s product line, enter new markets or expand our presence in existing ones, maintain our focus on our customers’ needs, and take our business to the next phase of a competitive and dynamic presence in the global gaming industry.”


Source: SBC News

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