Perform In Talks To Purchase Opta Sports
Perform is in advanced talks to buy sports statistics supplier, Opta Sports Data, in a £40 million deal – according to media reports.
The Daily Telegraph claims that Opta’s venture-capital backers, Albion Capital, have put the company up for sale, with a deal expected within the next couple of months.
Opta, which was founded in 1996 as Sportingstatz by Toby Russell, collect detailed information throughout games, covering sports such as football, cricket, rugby and a number of US sports, and counts BSkyB, ICC, ECB, Barclays Premier League, USA Today and the NBA among its clients.
In the 12 months to July 2012, Opta reportedly turned over nearly £11 million.
A deal with Perform would mark the latest in a string of deals for the listed media business. In 2011, Albion Capital acquired online football portal Goal.com, from a consortium including Bessemer Venture Partners followed by the acquisition of Runningball, another sports data company, for €120 million, a year later.
