Paddy Power to buy remaining Sportsbet shares.

Paddy Power invested in 51per cent of Sportsbet in 2009, and boosted their stake to 61% last February. The Irish bookmaker will now pay £86.2m for the remaining 39.2per cent shares in Sportsbet.

Chief executive, Patrick Kennedy said the acquisition would mean an easy platform for further expansion in Australia. He said: “It gives us the ability to develop further in Australia. For as long as we owned 61 per cent of the business it wasn’t easy to make further acquisitions because you had minority shareholders so I think it positions us to do other things.”

It is expected that the deal will be completed by the end of February 2011. Patrick Kennedy added: “This is a good deal to acquire the remaining shares early, which will allow us to drive development and investment and secure full participation in the upside of the business.”

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