According to Spanish newspaper Expansión, citing several market sources familiar with the deal, the process is still at an early stage, with indicative offers expected by mid-May, binding offers by early July, and the goal of closing the transaction before the Northern Hemisphere summer holidays in August.
Neither Codere nor Jefferies immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comment. Macquarie declined to comment.
Codere, Spain’s second-largest gaming and leisure group after Cirsa, has been owned by around 84 investment funds since a 2024 debt-for-equity swap that stripped control from the founding Martínez Sampedro family.
Davidson Kempner is the largest shareholder, with a 13.3% stake, ahead of Palmerston Capital, Deltroit, System 2 Capital, and Invesco.
Founded in 1980, Codere operates in regulated markets in Spain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, and Uruguay, across both land-based and online gaming.
Potential bidders could include both industrial and financial investors, although some private equity firms face restrictions related to ESG criteria when investing in the gambling sector, which could limit the number of interested parties, Expansión noted.
The report also stated that the deal would include Codere Online, the group’s digital unit listed on Nasdaq.
