Unibet Group plc, whose Unibet International Ltd has a licensed operation in Gzira, said yesterday it had signed an agreement to acquire the business and some operating assets from Nordic Betting Ltd for €13.5 million.

Nordic Betting, a leading company in the online gaming market in northern Europe, trades as Bet24.

As part of the transaction, Unibet will transfer around 45 employees of Nordic Betting Ltd into its own Maltese operations, in accordance with Maltese law and regulations applicable to the transfer of businesses.

Nordic Betting Ltd operates a wide range of sports and gaming products through portals like www.bet24.dk, www.bet24.com, and related sites.

Unibet will migrate customers and rebrand the business from Bet24 to Unibet, and intends to integrate business operations “in due course”. In the meantime, the business will continue to trade normally as Bet24.

The transaction, which is Unibet’s third targeted at regulated markets in recent months, strengthens Unibet’s market position in the recently regulated Danish market and provides additional scale to support further investment to grow market share. It also supports Unibet’s strong organic growth in other Nordic territories and provides synergies and economies of scale.

Nordic Betting Ltd had a gross winning revenue of some €10.5 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2011.

Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory clearance where required, and is expected to take place before the end of June.

Unibet was founded in 1997 and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm.

Unibet is one of the largest privately-owned gambling operators in the European market and provides services in 27 languages. It has more than six million customers in more than 100 countries.