Merkur to take control of French casino operator SFC

Merkur Spielbanken Beteiligungs GmbH has signed a put option agreement to acquire 95% of Casigrangi, the holding company that owns 81.21% of listed French casino operator Société Française de Casinos (SFC), at a price of €6.19 per SFC share.

The agreement was signed on 27 August 2026. Merkur Spielbanken is a subsidiary of Germany’s Merkur AG, the gaming and leisure arm of the Gauselmann Group. DOFA, the current owner of Casigrangi, keeps the remaining 5%, covered by crossed put and call options that can be exercised within an agreed period after closing.

Deal structure and pricing

Casigrangi holds 4,135,434 SFC shares, or 81.21% of the company’s capital and voting rights, based on the share count as of 31 October 2025. Taking 95% of Casigrangi gives Merkur indirect control of that block.

The €6.19 per share figure is far above where SFC has been trading. It is a 195.9% premium to the 240-day volume-weighted average price, 145.2% above the 60-day VWAP, and 157.9% above the closing price on 27 August 2026, the day the option agreement was signed.

Closing is targeted for the first quarter of 2027, subject to conditions that include internal restructuring at the target companies. Employee information and consultation processes have to run before the sale agreement itself is signed, as required under French labour law.

Seven casinos across France

The combined perimeter covers seven French casinos. Casigrangi’s Le Stelsia group operates venues in Granville, Megève and Mimizan. SFC runs, directly and indirectly, casinos in Châtel-Guyon, Collioure, Gruissan and Port-la-Nouvelle.

For the 2025-2026 financial year, the perimeter is expected to produce €22.5 million in gross gaming revenue and €13.3 million in net gaming revenue, according to the transaction announcement. Net turnover after gaming levies is put at €14.2 million, with EBITDA of €3.5 million.

The gap between the €22.5 million gross figure and the €14.2 million net turnover is the gaming levy take, which in France is collected on a progressive scale by the state and shared with the host communes.

Tender offer and delisting

Once the acquisition closes, Merkur will have to file a mandatory simplified tender offer for the SFC shares it does not control, triggered by the change of control over the majority block. The filing is expected in the first half of 2027.

If the take-up conditions are met after the offer, the parties intend to run a squeeze-out of the remaining minority shareholders and remove SFC from listing. SFC currently trades on Euronext Paris under the ticker SFCA.

Interior ministry approval is the gate

The transaction requires authorisation from the French Ministry of the Interior under Article L. 323-3 of the Code de la sécurité intérieure. Land-based casino authorisations in France sit with the interior ministry rather than with the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), which regulates online gambling and sports betting, so a change of controlling shareholder is assessed by the ministry on the identity and standing of the buyer.

That approval is the condition with the least predictable timeline. It also has to be cleared before the tender offer can be filed, which is why the offer is scheduled for a later window than closing.

Merkur’s first French casino position

Merkur AG is the gaming division of the Gauselmann Group, the German family-owned business built on gaming machines and arcade venues. Its recent acquisitions have pointed at the United States: it bought Nevada-licensed supplier Gaming Arts in 2025 and has an agreement to acquire White Hat Studios, subject to regulatory approval. Its European online exposure dates to the purchase of Blueprint Gaming in 2012.

SFC would be its entry into French land-based casino operation, a segment that has been absorbing higher costs alongside the rest of the French market. FDJ United reported a 55.9% fall in 2025 net income on tax changes, as covered in EpicWins’ report on the group’s full-year results.

SFC is led by chief executive Dominique Gortari. Neither company has said what the operating structure will look like after closing, or whether the Le Stelsia and SFC casinos will be run as one estate.

The next markers are the completion of the employee consultation, exercise of the put option, and the interior ministry’s decision on the transfer of control. Until the ministry rules, the seven casino authorisations stay where they are and the tender offer cannot be filed.

Source: Société Française de Casinos