Perform to acquire sports data provider

Digital sports media company, Perform Group, is to acquire Swiss firm RunningBall, a real-time sports data provider.

RunningBall will be bought for between €101m and €120m, with an initial consideration of €70m (€50m shares and €20m cash). The deferred consideration will also be paid in cash.

In 2011 RunningBall produced real-time data coverage of over 35,000 sporting events, including over 30,000 football matches, and produced over 1,000 items of data in relation to each match. In 2012 it is anticipated that RunningBall will increase its services to include coverage of over 40,000 events. The firm is head-quartered in Switzerland, with operational centres in Austria, Portugal, Cyprus and Malaysia.

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For the year ended December 31st 2011, the company had revenue of €16.1m and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation) of €7.2m, up 20.1% and 75.4% year-on-year, respectively.

Perform's Chairman, Paul Walker, said: "The acquisition of RunningBall is an exciting opportunity to further advance Perform's market leadership whilst at the same time delivering excellent financial returns. We are confident that Perform's strategy of combining strong organic growth with selected acquisitions, in line with our stated criteria, will enable Perform to create significant long-term value for shareholders."

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