Bwin.party confirms revised proposal from GVC | 27 July 2015

As reported by iGaming Business, GVC was previously considered as the frontrunner in the race to take control of bwin.party, with the firm having put forward a joint offer worth approximately £900 million in partnership with Amaya Gaming.

The recommended deal is the latest in a flurry of M&A activity in the industry, a trend set to continue as firms expand to help offset increasing taxes and tighter regulation and fund higher marketing and technology spend. Under the new terms of the offer, Bwin shareholders would be entitled to receive 122.5p for each Bwin share, consisting of up to 25p in cash and the balance of the value in new GVC shares.

This represents an 11 per cent premium on GVC previous offer for the company of 110 pence, and an 18 per cent increase on 888’s proposal, which was agreed with bwin.party last week.

GVC will finance the proposal via a combination of the issuance of new GVC shares to bwin.party shareholders, and a €400m senior secured loan provided by affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management.

Bwin.party has also issued a statement confirming that it has received a bid, but echoed the words of GVC by stating that there is no certainty that an offer will be made.

GVC, whose market value is less than a third of Bwin’s, said the deal would lead to cost benefits of more than 135 million euros per annum by the end of 2017. The target’s shares closed that day at 108.60 pence.