(Alliance News) - Entain PLC on Wednesday said it has raised about GBP600 million through a share placing and retail offer, to help fund its acquisition of STS Holding SA.

Entain is a sports betting and gambling company, which owns brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker and Sportingbet. STS is Poland's leading sports-betting operator.

Late Tuesday, the company said it will launch a fundraise to acquire STS for a total consideration of GBP750 million. It noted that the fundraise will include a placing and retail offer of shares priced at 1,230.00 pence each.

The placing price represents a 6.9% discount to the closing share price of 1,321.50p on Tuesday.

Entain shares were down 10% at 1,188.50p each on Wednesday morning in London, pushing it towards the bottom of the FTSE 100 index.

On Wednesday, Entain said it placed a total of 48.3 million shares at the placing price and said retail investors subscribed for 486,010 shares at the same price.

The placing and the retail offer together raised gross proceeds of about GBP600 million.

The net proceeds of the fundraise will be used to partly fund the acquisition of STS and the remainder will be used to fund further near-term acquisitions.

On Tuesday, Entain said it will fund 75% of its acquisition, while EMMA will fund the remaining 25%, in proportion to both companies' current shareholdings in STS.

Th firm said the acquisition is expected to add "attractive synergies" to its CEE operation, noting that STS is the market leader in Poland.

By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter

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