Baazov Secures Alternative Funder for Amaya $6.7B Bid
Amaya Inc. founder David Baazov has replaced KBC Aldini Capital Ltd., a Dubai investor who denied involvement in Baazov’s bid, with two Hong Kong funds in his effort to privatize the company, Bloomberg Technology reported.
Amaya is the parent company of PokerStars and Baazov is the company’s largest shareholder. When Baazov submitted a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission placing KBC as an equity funder in the bid, the investment firm filed a complaint with the SEC, denying involvement.
According to Bloomberg, Baazov did, in fact, receive equity commitment letters from the other funders, namely Head and Shoulders Global Investment Fund SPC and Goldenway Capital SPC for $3.45 billion, as stated in a SEC filing Friday. The Head and Shoulders Financial Group chairman told Bloomberg in a phone interview that they would continue to support Baazov.
In this new filing, Baazov said that KBC was not part of the financing and fails to mention Ferdyne Advisory Inc., the other financier listed in the Nov. 14 release announcing the offer, Bloomberg found.
These funders, in total, will provide $4.1 billion, the bid’s total, excluding debts, which bring the privatization bid to about $6.7 billion.
