Alizeti aims to raise a further £50 million as it continues drive to buy Tote

Reinvigorating the Tote by driving liquidity, harnessing the brand's heritage and building on the early success of the World Pool have been laid out as key pillars to the Alizeti Group's plans, as the consortium bids to raise a further £50 million to buy out Betfred.

The group, which is behind Together For The Tote, bought a 25 per cent stake in the Tote for £20m from owners Betfred in May 2018, having found £55m in its initial round of fundraising and has the goal of buying the pool betting operator outright by the end of October.

In a proposal document seen by the Racing Post, Alizeti, which is being assisted by financial advisory group Rothschild & Co, said it planned to "acquire, revitalise, and globally grow the UK Tote," and predicted the Tote's Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) would grow to £50m from £12m in five years.

Driving liquidity was the "primary focus", Alizeti said in the document aimed at drumming up investment in the British racing institution, with its transformation strategy including activating the Tote's "strong heritage brand", partnering the sport globally, transforming the offering to customers and leading international commingling.

The potential of commingling was highlighted at Royal Ascot last month by the performance of the World Pool, with money invested into the pots run at the meeting totalling £92m compared to £17m in 2018, an increase of 440 per cent fuelled by the involvement of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The World Pool could "prove to be a turning point for global pool betting," the document added.

Alizeti said a survey had highlighted that 41 per cent of people did not bet with the Tote because of "bad value".

A "Tote Guarantee" in which customers received a dividend that matched or beat SP is proposed, along with a reduced takeout on win and place bets to 17.5 per cent and "reinvigorating" exotics like the Scoop6.

The total acquisition price for the Tote would be £115m, according to the proposal, although Alizeti said it could not comment on the funding round when contacted on Friday.

In October Alizeti, the Tote and rival racecourse pool betting operation Britbet agreed to work together in a deal in which Britbet's partner racecourses are set to receive at least £50m over seven years.

However, it is understood that Britbet has a break clause that means it could resurrect its own plans if Alizeti does not buy out Betfred's remaining 75 per cent stake in the Tote by the end of October.

This year the Racing Post revealed the China Horse Club was among the initial investors in Alizeti.

You might also be interested in:

Britbet and Tote agree £50m pool-betting deal

Alizeti adds racing industry stalwarts to Tote management team

China Horse Club revealed as major Alizeti investor

bet365 join the Racing Post app. You can bet directly with bet365 on the Racing Post iOS app – to upgrade to the latest must-have free app click here