Skores Media Press Release

Skores Media, a leading European digital sports media, announces the entry of Stags Participations and MI3, two key private equity players, as minority shareholders alongside the company's founders. The transaction is part of a primary LBO aimed at accelerating the company's development.

April 24, 2024

 

Founded in 2009, Skores Media is a website and mobile application publisher dedicated to sports fans. The company stands out for its expertise in creating sports content powered by sports data, offering high value-added content to sports enthusiasts around the world.

With over 5 million monthly unique visitors, 60 million visits per month, and a community of 4 million fans on social networks, the company has extended the reach of its media beyond its European market, recently launching specific versions tailored for the African and South American markets, confirming its ongoing commitment to deliver localized content that meets the expectations of sports fans.

Among its products, SportyTrader and Skores have established themselves as leading brands. They offer sports fans access to in-depth pre-match analysis, real-time monitoring of results, statistics, live scores, and odds comparison for all sporting events worldwide. Skores Media has developed a scalable, multilingual platform capable of aggregating sports content and data encompassing more than ten major sports (Football, tennis, etc.) and specifically customized for audiences in different target countries.

Headquartered in France, with nearly 40 employees across two offices (Paris and Lille), Skores Media relies on an international team (11 different nationalities) of sports fans and digital experts (SEO, UI/UX, digital technology). Internationally, the company benefits from a network of nearly 100 independent contributors specialized in local sports news coverage.

Skores Media is embarking on a new phase of growth backed by the financial and strategic support of its new shareholders, Stags Participations and MI3, and through structured debt from top-tier banks (Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, BPI). The company intends to continue developing its audience through organic growth, by accelerating investment in its products and content, and by pursuing the international expansion of its flagship brands. At the same time, it plans to reinforce its external growth strategy, successfully initiated with the acquisition of a sports news website in the UK market in 2023. With this strategy, the Group aims to extend its geographical presence and expand its portfolio of websites to better meet the expectations of sports fans, and thereby consolidate its position in the highly fragmented digital sports media market.

 

 

 

For Christian de Cailleux, co-Founder of Skores Media: « Skores Media, alongside Stags Participations and MI3, is entering a new phase in its development, with the ambition of becoming a global player in online sports media. Since the beginning, we have worked and invested relentlessly in the development of our products and the enhancement of our content to offer the best of sports information to our community and best cater to the ever-changing expectations of sports fans. Stags Participations and MI3’s entry into the capital, with the support of top-tier banks, bears witness to the progress made and the maturity achieved by our group, owing to the quality of the work carried out by all our teams. We are delighted that they are joining us in this entrepreneurial adventure and assisting us in this new key stage of our growth. »

Grégoire de Castelnau, Managing Partner of Stags Participations, adds: « We are pleased to support the founders of Skores Media in their growth strategy. Since its creation, Skores Media has shown sustained growth, and we are convinced that the Group’s technological and editorial expertise, as well as its ability to capture international audiences, are all major assets that will make Skores Media a major player in the global digital sports information market. »

Jérôme Dhamelincourt, Executive Director of MI3, concludes: « We’re excited to be playing an active part in the Skores Media adventure, and to be supporting a team of talented entrepreneurs whom we’ve been following from the very beginning. The online sports media market is flourishing, and Skores Media is well-equipped to become a market leader. »

 

Participants :

  • Skores Media : Christian de Cailleux
  • Stags Participations : Charlotte Lezius-Doncel, Frederick Crot, Grégoire de Castelnau
  • MI3 : Christian Haas, Philippe Dhamelincourt, Jérôme Dhamelincourt

Advisors :

  • M&A advisor : Rothschild & Co (Fabien Lenoir, Clément Darcourt, Fabio Russo, César Mellerio)
  • Financial advisor : Rothschild & Co (Gregory Fradelizi, Thomas Lenoble)
  • Legal and tax advisor : Advance Avocats (Nacime Tobni, Julien Vaucheret, Rebecca Roumy, Julien Rocher)
  • Financial due diligence : Mortier & Associés (Rémi Loesch, Olivier Mortier, Thao Dallas, Gaétan Socirat)
  • Strategic due diligence : Roland Berger (Nicolas Teisseyre, Yaroslav Stetsenko, Mouhsine Aguedach, Kenza Terrab, Adrien Favre, Meryem Hrichi)
  • Lending advisors : Simmons & Simmons (Colin Milar, Galina Petrova)

Lenders :

  • BPI (Hugues Kemajou, Anaïs Rinnau)
  • Société Générale (Carlos Dias, Agnes Koechlin, Candice Hilbert, Charles N’Guetta, Ryan Vesperini)
  • BNP Paribas (Vanessa Charles, Amel Bchir, Thibaut Delurier, Achraf El Khadali)

 

About MI3

MI3 is a private investment holding company established under Luxembourg law in 2011, with an experienced management team led by Christian Haas and Philippe Dhamelincourt. Through private equity, MI3 supports entrepreneurs and their strategic projects for external growth, financing, and recruitment.

About Stags Participations

Stags Participations is the investment holding company dedicated to Private Equity of Philippe Louis-Dreyfus and his family, owners of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs. Since 2011, Stags Participations has invested in over 30 French and international SMEs and mid-sized companies, as well as in private equity funds. Stags Participations takes minority stakes with a long-term approach alongside founders and management teams to support them in ambitious, growth-oriented business projects.

For additional details, the full Press Release is available on this link.

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