The Stars Group seeks $2.5b kitty to fund acquisition spree

The parent company of PokerStars is looking to raise billions of dollars in order to fund an acquisition buying spree.

On Monday, The Stars Group CEO Rafi Ashkenazi told Reuters that his company was out beating the bushes for investors interested in providing up to $2.5b in capital so that Stars can further broaden the company’s horizons.

Ashkenazi (pictured) played coy with names, but claimed The Stars Group was already having discussions with potential targets regarding M&A activity. Ashkenazi did go on record in saying that potential deals would likely involve either one major company or between three and five ‘small to medium’ companies.

Last week, Stars released its Q3 earnings report, which showed the company continuing to move away from its pure poker origins. While online poker revenue increased year-on-year, the company’s casino and sports betting revenue increased their share of the overall revenue pie to 28.9% from 23.7% in Q3 2016.