The London-listed parent company of FanDuel Sportsbook will consult with shareholders about a potential US FanDuel stock listing.
Flutter announced its consultation plans Tuesday morning. The company has previously said a US listing could be on the table, but only for a small percentage of FanDuel.
If shareholder support is broad for a full Flutter listing, though, that would take precedence over the plans to list a small piece of FanDuel, the company said.
Flutter will begin consulting shareholders immediately with results announced in due course. The company plans to release its preliminary 2022 results on March 2.
Flutter board sees potential in additional listing
Flutter brought a FanDuel roadshow to New York in November with a three-hour session breaking down its expectations for the next few years of US sports betting.
The capital markets day held in New York on 16 November 2022 highlighted the growing importance of FanDuel to the Group as a whole. This trend is expected to continue, with FanDuel becoming the Group’s largest business by revenue and an ever-greater proportion of its overall value.
In this context, the Board has reached a preliminary view that an additional US listing of Flutter’s ordinary shares will yield a number of long-term strategic and capital market benefits.
Positives of FanDuel stock listing
The company broke out five benefits that Flutter would see from listing its stock in the US:
- Enhancing the company’s profile in the US
- Enabling better recruitment and retention of US talent
- Giving Flutter access to “much deeper capital markets” as well as new US domestic investors
- Opening the possibility for a primary US listing, which would allow Flutter to be listed on prominent US indices
- Providing greater overall liquidity in Flutter shares
Flutter stock currently does not see the volume on its London listing that it could in the US. The company’s average volume according to Yahoo Finance is 632,033 daily. That is compared to the average daily volume of DraftKings, which sits at nearly 12.8 million.
Background of FanDuel stock talks
Flutter first floated the idea of a US listing for a small piece of FanDuel back in March 2021. That came after Flutter closed on buying 37% of FanDuel for $4.2 billion in December to give the company 95% ownership. Boyd holds the remaining 5% as part of its compensation for market access through Boyd in the US.
The company announced in April 2021 that the Fox Bet brand would not be included in any FanDuel IPO. The following month, FanDuel CEO Matt King announced he was stepping down, which was just one of a few hurdles concerning the IPO.
The Telegraph reported in July 2021 that with King’s departure and Amy Howe taking over, any IPO was on ice until at least 2022.
