SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
UK newspaper The Independent has reported that the decision by bwin.party Entertainment governance to accept the £1.1 billion takeover offer by GVC Holdings has been thrown into fresh doubt as both operators have suffered declines in their share prices.
The newspaper details that the total worth of the cash and shares deal for bwin.party now matches the bid value of the rejected 888 £908 million cash offer.
In the days following the bwin.party’s acceptance of GVC’s offer (deal accepted on 4 September), it appears that the markets have cooled their interest on the merged company’s potential.
The potentially merged operators have seen their share prices decline since 4 September, with bwin.party seeing its value drop from 130p to 115p (LSE) and GVC (AIM listed) recording a price drop from 453p to 406p.
Shares in 888 Holdings have remained steady, leading analysts to suggest cash and shares offer would still have been at the level of around 115p-116p which was rejected by Bwin.
The collapse in GVC’s shares has also meant heavy paper losses for investors who bought £150 million of new stock in the bidding company as part of its financing for the deal.
