Unibet announces intention to acquire Maria Holdings to further strengthen its position in Bingo and the Nordic markets

Unibet announces intention to acquire Maria Holdings to further strengthen its
position in Bingo and the Nordic markets

•Significant potential within the female customer segment

•Excellent value creation opportunity in the fast growing online bingo market 

•Acquisition value of SEK 705 million (GBP 54 million)

Unibet Group plc today announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire 100
per cent of the Maltese company Maria Holdings Ltd, owned by the Swedish
investment company Maria Invest AB. The agreement is subject to Unibet obtaining
financing for the acquisition as well as certain other legal prerequisites being
in place. Maria Invest AB's subsidiary Parabol LTD owns several attractive
domains like Mariabingo.com, Mariacasino.com, Carlospoker.com and
Carlosplace.com. Maria Holding LTD owns Bingo.se. 

At closing of the acquisition, all current subsidiaries under Maria Invest AB
will have been restructured under Maria Holdings Ltd. 

The acquisition price is SEK 705 million (GBP 54 million), payable as cash up
front at day of closing. Unibet's intention is to finance the acquisition with
either bank debt or through capital raised in the bond market.

For the first nine months of 2007, total income for Maria Invest was SEK 77.1
million (GBP 5.9 million) and the operating profit was SEK 26.1 million (GBP 2.0
million). Total income in Q3 2007 was SEK 29.5 million, compared to SEK 6.5
million in Q3 2006 (a growth of 354%).

In Q3 Maria Invest had 176,361 registered customers and 11,659 active customers
(active last 3 months).

For the first nine months of 2007, total gross winnings revenue for Unibet Group
plc was GBP 59 million (SEK 773 million) and the operating profit was GBP 16.5
million (SEK 216 million).


Telephone conference
Today, Monday 3 December 2007, Unibet´s CEO Petter Nylander, CFO Ragnar
Hellenius and Maria Invest's CEO Jörgen Nordlund will host a telephone
conference. The conference will start at 8.30 GMT / 9.30 CET. Please call in on
telephone number +44 (0)20 7806 1957 passcode 9488024.

We kindly ask participants to call in 5 to 10 minutes in advance to register.
The telephone conference can be replayed by calling telephone number +44 (0)20
7806 1970 passcode 9488024#.


Strategic rationale 
Unibet has previously announced its intention to broaden the demographic
coverage, especially in the Nordic countries. The acquisition of Maria Holdings
achieves this aim and provides Unibet with a well established marketing and
customer base within the bingo area and with a special appeal to female
customers. 


It is well known that the female customer base is highly valuable for all FMCG
(Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industries, but its potential remains largely
untapped within the gaming industry. Unibet is today the online gaming market
leader among men in the Nordic countries. With this acquisition a valuable
complementary female customer base will be added to the current business,
ascertaining Unibet's position as the no. 1 of the private operators in the
Nordic region. Unibet's strong footprint in Europe and Maria's market leading
position and competence within the fast growing online bingo market makes for an
ideal industrial fit between the two companies.   "With this acquisition we will strengthen our position in the Nordic region as
well as within the fast growing online bingo market. Unibet is today the leading
private gaming company among men, and with this acquisition we will also be
leading among women", says Petter Nylander, CEO of Unibet Group plc. 

Maria Invest's marketing strategy and product innovations have proved successful
and have given the company a leading Nordic position in the lucrative female
customer segment for gaming.

“We strongly believe that the combined Unibet and Maria product offering,
structural capital and top talent will create a unique European gaming operator
with four strong product pillars and substantial growth potential”, says Jörgen
Nordlund, CEO of Maria Invest.

Timetable 
Signing of the transaction (subject to Unibet obtaining financing for the
acquisition as well as certain other legal prerequisites being in place) took
place today. It is the intention of Unibet and Maria Invest to close the deal
before the year end.

Hjalmarsson & Partners Corporate Finance AB is acting as financial adviser to
Unibet in relation to this transaction.






For more information:
Inga Lundberg, Investor Relations, +44 788 799 6116
Petter Nylander, CEO, Unibet, +44 7799 873 152
Ragnar Hellenius, CFO and deputy CEO Unibet, +44 784 167 3517
Jörgen Nordlund, CEO, Maria Invest, +46 733 828 888

About Unibet
Unibet was founded in 1997 and is an online gambling company listed on OMX
Nordic Exchange in Stockholm. Unibet is one of the largest privately-owned
gambling operators in the European market and provides services in 20 languages
through www.unibet.com. Today, Unibet has more than 2.0 million customers in
over 100 countries. Unibet is a member of the EGBA, European Gaming and Betting
Association, RGA, Remote Gambling Association in the UK and is certified by G4,
Global Gaming Guidance Group. 

More information about Unibet Group plc can be found on www.unibetgroupplc.com

About Maria Invest
Maria Invest AB invests in companies that develop and provide entertainment and
games over the Internet. The group's focus is to appeal to women. The portfolio
companies develop new market-leading products, attract new target groups and
provide players with the highest returns.

Maria Invest AB owns Parabol Ltd, Maria Holding LTD, Maria Services LTD,
Mantaray SA, Maria Plaza AB and Tibay AB.

Parabol LTD owns the domains MariaBingo, CarlosPoker, Mariacasino and
Carlosplace. Maria Holding owns Bingo.se.

More information about Maria Invest AB can be found at www.mariainvest.se