STS Holding SA Launches Investment Arm with IPO Proceeds

If it’s good enough for FanDuel and DraftKings, it’s probably good for the rest of the sports betting elite. This is the logic that partly motivates the Juroszek family, owners of Poland’s sports gambling mastodon – STS Holding SA – which raised $266 million through an initial public offering (IPO) to diversify its portfolio. The family has chosen to take and allocate part of the funds to sustain a new investment arm, which will, in turn, boost the Polish economy.

New Division Arm by STS Holding SA

The new division will seek to diversify the family’s area of business interest as the Juroszeks are also trying to reinvest the money from a 30% stake they sold in STS. According to STS CEO Mateusz Juroszek, the family office will be backing promising stocks on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, placing investments across technology, real estate, and e-commerce. An estimated 20% and up to 30% of the family’s portfolio will be invested in high-potential Polish stocks, the chief executive told Bloomberg:

The family office will look for opportunities in tech, eCommerce and real estate sectors. Polish stocks will make up some 20% to 30% of the portfolio.”

STS CEO Mateusz Juroszek

Meanwhile, STS continues to dominate the local sports betting market, with the company holding 45.8% of its share, based on data from February 2021. The Juroszeks have diversified their investment sports betting portfolio by buying up stock in competitors such as Better Collective, Flutter Entertainment, and Evolution AB to name a few.

According to Front Office Sports, the Juroszeks are also looking to expand their clout in the United States, where sports gambling is gaining momentum with 32 states now accepting legal sports betting, available to some 142 million American adults. The Juroszek family is also looking to purchase a stake in Allegro, one of the largest e-commerce websites in Poland and most of Eastern Europe.

At the same time, Juroszek said that STS will be looking to invest in valuable assets in Central and Eastern Europe. He added that while STS Holding SA is attempting to diversify its portfolio, the family would probably take at least several years for the investment vehicle to be fully set up. STS Holding SA in the meantime seems to have shed any debt and is now prepared to attempt mid-sized takeovers, as per the words of Juroszek.

FanDuel, DraftKings, and Entain have invested in developing proprietary sports betting technology, although they remain more exclusively focused on the gambling industry as a whole.