Blackstone's Cirsa IPO is Spain's second-largest to date

• Cirsa becomes the second-largest IPO in Spain’s history
• The company’s value hit €2.5bn as intended
• Cirsa has continued to aggressively acquire assets over the past years

Blackstone’s gaming asset, Cirsa, has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the largest IPO in Spain’s history, and hitting its initial target of €2.5bn (around $2.9bn). The IPO launched on a strong note on Wednesday with the operator’s price surging by 6.7% initially to push the stock price to €16, but the initial momentum settled and scaled back the share price to €15 as Cirsa had predicted.

Cirsa starts trading on a strong foothold

Overall, though, the company’s listing was hailed as a success and one of the most significant business milestones to have happened in Spain. Cirsa operates 450 casino properties across 11 countries and has been able to add €400m in fresh capital in exchange for 26m shares. Cirsa also holds some of the best online casinos in Spain and beyond.

The listing is also an important signal for global investors, as the European IPO market has been a rather moribund affair. Still, a gambling major is not necessarily the business deal that investors are looking for.

Regardless, Cirsa has been one of the world’s most influential companies in the sector. Cirsa launched in 1985 and was bought by Blackstone several decades later in 2018, when the investment fund forked out €2.1bn to assume control over the company.

Cirsa has been aggressively consolidating its presence in the gambling market, with a particular focus on Latin America, but also in its home bastion in Europe, as well as new markets such as Portugal and Italy.

It bought Apuesta Total and Casino Portugal, signaling a strong financial standing as well as sufficient momentum to continue acquiring new assets in markets identified as important to the company’s long-term resilience. However, Cirsa still needs to address certain aspects of its offer, including its net debt, which now stands at €2.37bn.

Blackstone knows how to turn gaming assets into winners

Reducing the debt pile has been identified as one of the priorities for Cirsa by its top brass. Despite skepticism about the gambling sector, strong investments such as Blackstone’s purchase of Cirsa have proven a success.

Lottomatica, an Italian gaming major that launched its IPO in 2023, has already registered an 80% gain on its own shares. Blackstone is also working on returning Crown Resorts to stability and potentially growing the beleaguered Australian brand at a time when regulatory pressure is not letting up.

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