F1 Owner CVC Considers Taking Over Online Betting Company Betfair

CVC Capital Partners, private-equity owner of the car-racing marketing company Formula One, "is considering a takeover approach for Betfair," according to Anne-Sylvaine Chassany of the Financial Times. A person with knowledge of the matter said that "the buyout investor has not yet been in contact with the company’s board and is still in an early stage of assessing an approach."

CVC said that "it never commented on market rumor or speculation." Betfair, started by entrepreneurs Ed Wray and Andrew Black, went public in Oct. '10 and "has since lost about half its value after regulatory uncertainties, especially across Europe, hindered the company’s international expansion."

However, the shares "have climbed lately, fuelled by takeover speculation," closing at 699.5 pence on Friday, giving the company a market capitalization of £724.69M ($1.1B) FT