Polish gambling tycoons, the Juroszeks, have taken a majority stake in affiliate iGaming company Gentoo Media following a EUR 100 million (about $111 million) refinancing deal, which boosted the family’s stake in the company from 26.8% to 59.3%.
Juroszek Moved Strategically to Acquire This Share
Last month, Mateusz Juroszek purchased 131,715 shares in Gentoo Media, where he serves as a board member and is the principal owner. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority’s insider register shows the purchase was executed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
Following the completion of the process, CEO Jonas Warrer confirmed that the share issue had been finalised, completing the company’s refinancing. He noted that the offering, which was made available to eligible shareholders, had been fully subscribed by Gentoo’s largest shareholders at a premium to the prevailing share price. Warrer added that, together with the loan, the proceeds would ensure the full repayment of the company’s bonds in December while reducing the group’s overall debt.
Following the transaction, the Juroszek family held 42.35 million shares in Gentoo Media, representing 31.43% of the company’s total capital and voting rights, according to ownership data from Holdings. Juroszek has steadily increased his stake through several purchases over the past few years.
With the latest deal, which involved the issuance of 91,928,663 new shares in exchange for EUR 50 million (about $55.7 million) in equity investment from two separate family-owned entities, the family has created a controlling stake in the company. This diluted existing shareholders’ stakes by 40.6% and was accompanied by an additional EUR 50 million loan.
Refinancing has been a persistent challenge for the group for several years, with much of its debt stemming from GiG’s acquisitions of AskGamblers and KaFe Rocks in 2022 and 2023, respectively (Gentoo Media was previously known as GiG Media, before it rebranded in 2024 ). Although the company’s leverage stood at a relatively moderate 2.58x EBITDA, the main issue was Gentoo’s inability to generate sufficient surplus cash to meet its upcoming financing obligations.
Earlier this year, Gentoo reduced its full-year revenue guidance by $20 million, reflecting the financial issues the company has been experiencing.
While things seem to be looking better now, there are still more hurdles op overcome. Leverage subsequently peaked at 3.34x the following month. However, Gentoo ultimately scrapped its planned January 2026 refinancing, citing an “evaluation of market conditions and the terms indicated by investors”.