The Racing Post newspaper’s future has been secured with debts of €180 million being bought in a sell off of IBRC debt by a group of investors including senior management led by CEO Alan Byrne and Editor Bruce Millington.
The paper incurred the debt burden as part of its purchase from Trinity Mirror by FL Partners in 2007. The principals of FL Partners, Irish businessmen Peter Crowley and Neil Hughes are understood to be part of the winning group again under the banner of Stradbrook Acquisitions.
Financing has been provided by London based Hayfin Capital Management and the going concern is believed to be one of the most profitable newspaper titles in the world with its niche market and high advertising rates paid by betting companies eager to reach it’s core readership of around 100,000.
The paper was founded in 1986 by the Maktoum family who have extensive racing interests in Ireland and around the world. After ten years taking on the once impregnable Sporting Life title the two merged under the Racing Post title once the latter had been bought by Trinity Mirror in 1998.
Sales of the daily newspaper are bolstered by a special display edition that goes into all betting shops in Britain and Ireland and by a popular digital suite that includes links through to revenue share deals with betting companies.
Paddy Power estimated last year that mobile betting would account for 90% of the industry’s growth over the next six years and it already accounts for more than 50% of that companies online betting turnover around the world.
The growth rates for mobile are staggering with William Hill reporting a 300% surge in mobile last year and a survey for an online advertising agency showing that the number of smartphones in the UK with a mobile gambling app on them was likely to climb above 5% this year.
The Racing Post has a respected brand within the area of content creation and betting advice. Its tipster ‘Pricewise’ is one of the most highly regarded of advisory services and the paper, despite its name caters very much for the burgeoning football and other sports betting categories.
It is understood that an original condition of sale from the Maktoum family was that the name would remain the same and that racing would appear on the front page of the newspaper in perpetuity.
Owning the master title though could lead to spin off titles being produced if the market in betting on other sports demanded a greater distance between them and the sport of horse racing though evidence over the last 20 years suggests that there is little genuine appetite for that change, at least yet.
In a media world where established titles continue to struggle to find a profitable model for their brands, the Racing Post has done so and will now continue to be a winner for investors.
