Shares in sportsbook supplier Kambi are trading higher today after the business repaid a €7.5m convertible bond in full to Kindred Group.

Bond repayment asserts Kambi’s independence

The bond was first issued to Kambi in 2014 as part of the company’s spin-off from its then-owner Kindred.

Kindred had the possible option of converting the bond into shares after it was issued.

However, following a supplier contract extension signed between the two companies in February 2022, Kambi reached certain financial performance requirements allowing it to repay the bond early.

At the time, Kambi said: “Upon the prepayment of the convertible bond, Kambi will no longer be required to seek prior consent for certain events and will eliminate the prospect of Kindred converting the bond into shares, which would have given the operator a controlling influence over Kambi. 

“This ensures Kambi and its shareholders have complete control of the company’s strategic direction.”

Early repayment of the bond has no impact on the supplier partnership between Kambi and Kindred, which will continue to run until the end of 2026.

Kambi CEO Kristian Nylén gave an exclusive Q&A to iGaming NEXT when Kambi received approval to repay the ‘poison pill’ convertible bond to Kindred last year.

The news has been well received by investors, who believe Kambi will be a more attractive acquisition target after becoming strategically independent from a client operator.

Kambi shares rose by more than 8% in early trading today (3 May) to SEK198.

Shares are now trading just ahead (1.4%) of their price at the beginning of this year, and are up more than 17% over the past 12 months.

Still, they remain a far cry from their all-time high of more than SEK525, recorded in April 2021.

Share repurchase

In other news, Kambi appears to see the value in its own shares at that price as it has also initiated a share repurchase programme today, worth up to a total of €7.2m.

Kambi’s board was approved to initiate the repurchase programme at its extraordinary general meeting on 30 June 2022.

The programme will run between today and 31 May, with the objective of achieving “added value for Kambi’s shareholders and to give the board increased flexibility with Kambi’s capital structure, for example as consideration for an acquisition or upon exercise of share options by employees under share option plans.”

The supplier has entered into an agreement with Carnegie Investment Bank AB to conduct the share repurchases on its behalf, which will take place on one or several occasions on the Nasdaq First North Market in Stockholm.

Carnegie will make its trading decisions in relation to the repurchases independently and without influence by Kambi.

Payments for the shares will be made in cash, while the Kambi’s holding may not exceed more than 10% of total shares in the company, equal to some 3.1 million shares.

At present, Kambi holds 523,500 of its own shares out of a total 31.3 million.

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