SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Following this morning’s announcement by bwin.party Entertainment governance, that it had selected GVC Holdings £1.1 billion takeover offer over its prior bid of £908 million, 888 Holdings governance has publicly announced that it has withdrawn from acquisition discussions.
The withdrawal sees 888 ends its deal co-operation agreement (accepted on 17 July) with bwin.party governance.
In a short statement, 888’s board concluded that following a review of its offer and its own extensive due diligence of bwin.party assets, 888 “could not see sufficient value in bwin.party to warrant a revision to its offer. Consequently, 888 confirms that it is no longer in discussions regarding the acquisition of bwin.party”.
888 governance has therefore chosen to focus on growing its revenues and operations without the need of a corporate acquisition.
The operator’s withdrawal, has surprised industry analysts who at the start of the week predicted that 888 would increase its offer for bwin.party.
At the start of August, following bwin.party public recommendation of the 888 offer, 888 Holdings Chairman Brian Mattingley told The Times newspaper that he expected a fair fight for the takeover of the operator, and that 888 Holdings would not be dragged into a bidding war with GVC.
GVC’s £1.1 billion (125.5p per share) offer will now be promoted to bwin.party investors for final approval
