888 Holdings has confirmed that it has made an offer for bwin.party, making it one of several companies reportedly in negotiations for bwin.
GVC Holdings, based on the Isle of Man, also confirmed that it was making its own bid for the online gambling company. GVC has combined with Canadian company Amaya Gaming—which owns PokerStars—to make a combined 1.5 billion pound bid for bwin. The bid is seen as a direct response to 888 Holdings’ move to acquire bwin.
Bwin.Party announced in November that it had entered “preliminary discussions with a number of interested parties regarding a variety of potential business combinations.” Brands owned by Bwin.party include PartyPoker, PartyCasino and FoxyBingo.
Late last week, bwin issued a statement saying it was “entering a further stage of discussions” with bidders after news of 888’s and GVC’s bids was released.
“The proposals contain a significant element of share consideration and the board, together with its advisers, is in the process of assessing the comparative merits of these along with other elements of the proposals,” the company said. “Whilst there can be no guarantee that these discussions will result in any transaction being completed, the board expects to reach a conclusion over the coming weeks when a further announcement will be made.”
888, based in Gibraltar, said in a news release that its board of directors believed it makes sense combining with bwin.party and that it had submitted a cash-and-share offer for the company.
“The board believes that there is significant industrial logic in a combination of 888 and bwin.party, benefiting both companies and all shareholders and accordingly, has submitted a proposal regarding the acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of bwin.party for consideration comprising cash and 888 shares,” the company said in a statement.
“Due to the size of the proposed transaction, it would require, inter alia, the approval of 888 shareholders.” The statement said. “888 shareholders representing approximately 59 percent of 888’s share capital have irrevocably committed, subject to customary conditions, to vote in favor of the proposed transaction.”
Bwin.Party confirmed separately that it had received the offer from 888 Holdings.
“The board and its advisers are conducting a detailed review of the proposals received to date, and will make a further announcement in due course,” Bwin.Party said in a news release. “However there can be no certainty that these proposals will result in a transaction being completed.”
GVC and Amaya reportedly teamed-up for its reported €1.5 billion bid to split bwin.party in an attempt to hold off 888’s move for the company. The two companies had initially bid separately.
Amaya is reportedly interested in bwin.party’s poker assets and possibly its sportsbook. It is in talks with GVC to make the purchase with a combination of cash from Amaya and GVC shares. According to reports on the negotiations, GVC would buy bwin.party outright and Amaya would have the option to y purchase its poker operations.
Another potential suitor for bwin, Playtech, has reportedly backed out of the competition, as has bookmaker William Hill.
When news of the 888 bid was released, bwin.party saw an about 10 percent bump on the London Stock Exchange. Shares rose again by about 6 percent after the company announced it would decide on the competing bids.
Bwin, which was created by a merger of sports betting group bwin and online poker group PartyGaming in 2011, had a market capitalization of about 850 million pounds, according to Reuters.
Bwin posted revenue of €611.9 million, or about $700 million, in 2014 and employs more than 2,300 people in Europe, India and the United States. But analysts note the company lost money in 2014 and its revenues for this year are behind 2014. The company, however, saw some upward movement in its first quarter report for 2015.
Deutsche Bank is handling the auction process for bwin.party.
