SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
This morning GVC Holdings Plc issued a corporate statement confirming that it has made a new fully funded proposal for bwin.party Entertainment, in its attempt to win the takeover of the company from competitor 888 Holdings.
Its new proposed bid will see bwin.party shareholders receive 25 pence in cash and 0.231 in new GVC issued shares. Based on GVC’s closing price 435p (6 August), the bid would represent a value of approximately 125.5 pence per share.
The offer represents GVC’s third attempt at trumping the 104 pence per share offered by 888 Holdings (Value £908 million), which currently leads as takeover bid having been recommended by bwin.party’s governance.
GVC will co-finance the deal with private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, who have granted the London AIM listed operator a €400 million secured loan. GVC further intends to raise £150 million in working capital through an equity placing in order to fund restructuring costs, for the refinancing of existing bwin.party debt.
GVC governance stated that they anticipated to enter discussions with bwin.party and its deal advisers in the coming days, with the final decision by bwin.party expected within “5-10 business days”.
Last month Jason Ader, investor in bwin.party and key stakeholder in takeover negotiations stated to US business news sources that GVC and Cerberus would need to increase their offer to 140p per share in order to be in contention with 888 Holdings favoured offer.
Having accepted 888 Holdings £908 million bid, 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”.
