888 Chairman Brian Mattingley wants fair fight for bwin.party

Speaking to The Times, 888 Holdings Chairman Brian Mattingley stated that he remains confident that his firm would win in its pursuit of bwin.party Entertainment, against the increased takeover bid of GVC Holdings.

Mattingley who replaced Executive Chairman Richard Kilsby in May, told The UK newspaper that he expects a clean and fair fight for bwin.party operations, as GVC increased its takeover bid to the £1 billion mark offering 122.5p buyout per share price.

We have rehearsed our strategy more times than we care to think of. We know how it’s going to be done. I am confident this is do-able with lowish risk.” Mattingley stated:

Mattingley further stated that 888 Holdings held the better co-synergies for bwin.party’s long term future and growth, which had been noted by the target operator’s board.

“I don’t think it’s only the quality of the paper…we know how to execute it and obtain the synergies. I think we have satisfied the target company that we are a good, straightforward, honest, hard-working and fit company to go forward. Our growth has not come just from doing wacky things in illegal territories; it has come from driving customers through our CRM and marketing campaign. The bwin.party board unanimously recommended our bid.”

The 888 Chairman’s comments come, following last week’s announcement by activist investor Jason Ader’s Springowl investment fund that GVC and its backer Cerberus Capital Management would need to up its offer to 140p per share in order to put itself in contention to win bwin.party.

Having accepted 888 Holdings £900 million bid on 27 July, bwin.party governance are helping deliver the final takeover terms to company investors. However the operator’s governance will remain open to competitor bids should they be deemed “deliverable”. At present 888 Holdings remains in the lead to takeover bwin.party Entertainment operations and assets.