888-bwin.party Deal: GVC Wants Back in the Game, Prepares Counter Offer
The bidding war to take control of the bwin.party Group may not be over quite yet as GVC Holdings is reportedly evaluating the possibility of making a counteroffer.
According to Bloomberg and Reuters the company is currently "considering its options," even if — at least for the time being — there is "no certainty an offer would be made."
The new offer would follow the £906.5m bid announced earlier this month after GVC Holdings formed a joint venture with Canada-listed Amaya to take control of the bwin.party group. Although there are no details about the size of the new bid, The Telegraph reports that GVC may be planning to "raise a substantial amount of cash" since the company may cease the cooperation with Amaya and make a solo offer.
The decision to end the joint venture with the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt may then play a key role in the negotiations, as many assumed that the refusal of the GVC/Amaya bid was due to some complications created by Amaya's presence in the deal. Rumors had it that the operation would have led to the dismantling of the group with bwin's sports-betting operations becoming part of GVC and the group's poker operations going to Amaya.
GVC Holding may be about to drop Amaya and make a solo bid to take over the bwin.party Group
The news of GVC's renewed interest in the bwin.party group came as a surprise to those who assumed that the parent company of known brands as partypoker, partycasino, bwin and Foxy Bingo was already firmly in the hands of the 888 Holdings.
On Friday, July 17, 888Holdings and the bwin.party group announced that they had reached an agreement in a £898.3m cash and shares deal, which was expected to close somewhere between the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.
Speaking about the deal, 888Holdings Executive Chairman Brian Mattingley, said that the 888-bwin.party deal would create "one of the world's leading online gaming operators." According to Mattingley, "The enlarged business will be positioned to benefit from a greater scale with pro forma combined annual revenues of more than $1 billion."
Stay tuned to PokerNews for the latest in the bwin.party Group saga.
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