DAZN Group has announced that it has agreed new financing arrangements with Access Industries, its principal shareholder, in a bid to maintain a ‘strong commercial momentum’.
The group has reported that its revenues and subscriber numbers continue to grow as the business expands its offering, which ‘paved the way’ for Access Industries to recapitalise the business in December 2021.
This left the Group without borrowings at the end of 2021, whilst Access has additionally subscribed for a further $250 million of new shares post-recapitalisation.
Kevin Mayer, Chairman of the Board, DAZN Group, commented: “This backing by Access represents a strong vote of confidence in DAZN’s strategy, progress and future growth opportunities. We are also grateful for the continued support of Dentsu, our second largest shareholder.”
Towards the end of last year, the company appointed former Entain executive Ian Turnbull as its new EVP of Betting and Gaming, as the firm looked to increase its engagement with the sector. DAZN explained that the new hire’s expertise ‘will help DAZN amplify our offerings around the world, giving sports fans the best end-to-end experience on one platform’.
Looking ahead to the remainder of 2022, the group has further stated that it aims to move forward with recreational betting, gaming, e-commerce, NFTs and tech advances in the viewing experience.
On the new deal, Mayer continued: “DAZN is leading the transformation of how fans engage with sport, has quickly become the world’s leading sports streaming broadcaster, and we are expecting another exciting year in 2022 as our platform diversifies into the true global destination for sports fans.”
Last year, the sports entertainment company became the primary broadcaster of Serie A in Italy, acquired rights to LaLiga in Spain, launched coverage of Bundesliga in Germany, strook a five-year global boxing deal with Matchroom Boxing and a four-year deal with UEFA Women’s Champions League.
As part of this movement, the firm subscribed for $4.3 billion of new shares in the group’s topco, DAZN Group Limited, converting existing preference shares and retiring shareholder loans.
This announcement shortly follows the recent win of domestic LaLiga rights in Spain, being named Apple TV App of the Year for 2021 and reaching a ‘record-breaking’ number of fans across the world with its live sport and original programming.
