A group of potential suitors for Amaya, Inc. said to include iGaming software giant Playtech Plc. may choose to team up with CEO David Baazov in his bid to buy out all shares to take the company private.
Amaya is parent company of PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker company.
According to a report in Bloomberg, potential bidders including Playtech have been in discussions to join Baazov’s takeover bid, rather than launching their own. Baazov announced last month that he was courting potential investors to join him in his offer for the Quebec-based company, valued at C$2.8 billion (US$2.1 billion).
Potential discussions likely will center around change-of-control restrictions on the company’s $2.6 billion in debt that limit anyone bondholder from owning more than 35 percent of the company’s voting shares, outside of Baazov and two of the company’s investors, BlackRock Financial Management Inc. and GSO Capital Partners.
There also is an ongoing threat from Kentucky, where a judge awarded an $870 million settlement to the state as damages related to PokerStars continuing to serve Kentucky residents after passage of the 2006 Illegal Internet Gaming Enforcement Act. Amaya has appealed the decision.
Baazov has yet to make a formal takeover bid. Amaya’s board of directors has established a special committee and retained Barclays Capital Canada as financial adviser on any proposal that may be received.
Officials for Playtech have not commented, but have said in the past that the company is considering making some “strategic acquisitions.”
Playtech is also attempting to acquire sports betting platform OpenBet.
