Ok, maybe it’s not over.
GVC Holdings appeared to have lost a bidding war with 888 Holdings for bwin.party Digital Entertainment, but has come back with a new bid of ?1 billion or about $1.6 billion.
Bwin officials had accepted a ?900 million bid from 888 over a ?908 billion bid from GVC—which was partnered with Canadian firm Amaya Gaming in the bidding—and the bidding war had appeared to be over. Bwin officials felt 888’s management could provide a better growth return for investors and reportedly felt GVC’s bid was too complex.
Bwin officials confirmed it received the new bid and said it would respond in due course.
Now officials are waiting for 888 to make another offer. 888 declined to comment on whether it planned to raise its offer, though analysts said they expect the company will make another bid
“This is a real statement of intent from GVC. The proposed premium over the accepted offer by 888 is such that the bwin.party board will probably have no choice but to reconsider its acceptance of the 888 offer,” Davy Research analysts told London’s Fiscal Times. “We would be surprised if 888 does not come back with a counter-offer of its own.”
GVC said it would finance the new deal through a combination of new GVC shares and a €400 million ($443 million) senior secured loan from private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, removing Amaya’s involvement and some of the complexity that had worried bwin, the paper reported.
GVC also plans to raise ?150 million through an equity placing to fund restructuring costs and refinance existing debt at bwin.party.
U.S. activist investor Jason Ader, whose SpringOwl vehicle is among bwin’s five biggest shareholders, said GVC’s new offer was still not enough and he would still prefer 888 if there was no further improvement in the bidding.
“If this was a 135p-140p price from GVC that might be enough for the bwin shareholders to get comfortable with all the uncertainties. The 122p price is probably not enough, but it’s enough to get the bwin board’s attention,” Ader told Reuters.
He added that the onus was on bwin’s board to push GVC higher and invite 888 to reconsider its own offer.
