Enic takes a pounds 5m gamble buying into online betting

ENIC, THE UK entertainment company with stakes in several European football clubs, yesterday announced plans to expand into bookmaking by acquiring Gibraltar-based Victor Chandler International and targeting online gambling as a key growth business.

Enic has acquired a 25.1 per cent share in Chandler's Internet sports bookmaking venture for pounds 5m in cash. It also has an option to buy 100 per cent of the issued share capital of Newcote, the betting firm's parent company, by the end of the year.

The Newcote deal, which is expected to value the Chandler group at around pounds 70m, will be structured as a paper transaction, with Victor Chandler and his partner Michael Tabor taking undisclosed but "significant" stakes in Enic and joining the company's board.

If Enic does not proceed with the purchase of Newcote, both parties will have the right to pull out of the deal for the online business.

Daniel Levy, Enic's managing director, said his company's stake in Chandler's Internet venture was "a strategic move by Enic into the fast growing international market for online and interactive sports-related services." He said Enic was in a number of discussions regarding future business opportunities.

But he declined to comment on speculation that his group is poised to buy a stake in Manchester United football club. On Friday, Enic announced that it had agreed a pounds 2.5m deal to give it full control of Vicenza, the Italian football club.

Last month, Enic Hellas, part of the group's sports division, sold 40 per cent of its issued share capital to MIH, an international pay-TV operator. Enic Hellas owns 78.4 per cent of AEK, the Greek football club, and 100 per cent of Basic Hellas, AEK's merchandising associate.

Victor Chandler International moved its operations to tax-haven Gibraltar in May to escape the 9 per cent deductions on betting in the UK.

Enic's shares closed down 1p at 134p yesterday, after having fallen to 125p earlier, in the morning.