Spanish gambling group Codere to go on sale for $2.3 billion, Expansion reports

MADRID, March 25 (Reuters) - Spanish gambling group Codere has hired Jefferies JEF.N and Macquarie Capital to advise on the company's imminent sale that could value it at more than 2 billion euros ($2.32 billion), newspaper Expansion reported on Wednesday, citing several market sources familiar with the deal.

According to the report, the process is still at an early stage, with indicative bids due by mid-May, binding offers expected around early July and a deal targeted before the August summer break.

Neither Codere nor Jefferies immediately replied to Reuters' requests for comment. Macquarie declined to comment.

Codere, Spain's second-largest gambling and leisure group after Cirsa CIRSA.MC, is owned by about 84 investment funds since a 2024 debt-for-equity deal that handed control away from the founding Martinez Sampedro family.

Davidson Kempner is the largest shareholder with a 13.3% stake, ahead of Palmerston Capital, Deltroit, System 2 Capital and Invesco.

The group, founded in 1980, operates in regulated markets in Spain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Uruguay, across both land-based and online gambling.

Potential bidders could include both industrial and financial investors, although some private equity firms face ESG-related restrictions on investing in gambling, which may narrow the pool, Expansion said in its report.

The report said that the deal would include Codere Online, the group's Nasdaq-listed digital unit.

($1 = 0.8624 euros)