Sportradar files for IPO
Data supplier Sportradar has filed for an initial public offering (IPO), which would allow it to list on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (Nasdaq) exchange.
The business has not yet revealed the number of shares it will issue in the offering, nor the price per share. However, in its registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it said the proposed maximum amount it would raise if all shares are sold would be $100m.
After the offering is complete, Sportradar will trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol SRAD.
J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and UBS Investment Bank will be the lead book-running managers in the IPO, while Bank of America Securities, Deutsche Bank Securities, Jefferies and Canaccord Genuity will act as additional joint book-running managers.
In a letter to potential investors included in its SEC filing, Sportradar chief executive Carsten Koerl said that sports data has become more important than ever, thanks in part to the rise of live betting.
“Data and technology have never been more valuable to the sports and entertainment ecosystem,” Koerl said. “We’re grateful to all of our customers who choose Sportradar to power their offerings. We’re humbled to play a part in helping them grow and are committed to innovating alongside them. We are also honored to partner with some of the biggest sports leagues around the world to help them understand and harness the power of their own data.
“Since the founding of our business we have always cared deeply about the integrity and fairness of competition,” he continued. “We partner with leagues and sports around the world to advance our vision of fair and transparent competition. Our latest innovation in this sector is a revolutionizing analytical system to support anti-doping agencies globally.”
The filing reveals that Sportradar recorded revenue of €404.9m in 2020, up 6.4% year-on-year and making it the industry’s largest sports betting solutions provider.
Of this total, €34.4m came from the United States. Meanwhile, €235.0m came from betting in the rest of the world and €105.9m came from rest of world audiovisual services.
It paid €89.3m costs of purchasing services and licences, personnel costs of €121.3m, other operating expenses of €41.3m, depreciation and amortisation costs of €106.2m and €35.2m in impairment charges. However it also made a €5.6m profit on financial items.
This led to a pre-tax profit of €22.1m. After tax, its profit stood at €14.8m.
As of 30 June, 2021, Sportradar had assets of €1.01bn and liabilities of €799.6m.
Much of these assets are the licence rights for major sports events. As of 30 June, these totaled €167.1m, which was a decline from €201.7m on 31 December.
In the first six months of 2021, Sportradar’s revenue was €272.1m, up 42.0%, of which €28.9m was from the US.
Koerl added that the growing US market would remain a major part of Sportradar’s future.
“Sitting here today, I see numerous opportunities for growth, especially as new sports betting markets such as the US accelerate and our customers turn to us for new products and continued innovation,” he explained. “We are living in a transformational time. At Sportradar we are focused on constantly improving our company and its services. Machine learning and artificial intelligence, in particular, will help us to get brand new insights around team and player performance.
“Cloud computing gives us the GPU power, combined with low latency connections to all our clients around the world, to serve the next generation of analytical and entertainment products.”