Online gambling firm GVC raises offer for Bwin to $1.6 billion

British via the internet gambling business organisation GVC Holdings Plc high its offer to decide to purchase competing Bwin.social gathering Digital Entertainment Plc for an alternate time couple of weeks, eager to crack the organization apart from 888 Holdings Plc.

FoxyBingo owner Bwin said the GVC move did not change its recommendation of 888’s offer, which valued the company at just under £900m.

The tussle for Bwin is the latest in a flurry of merger activity in the industry, a trend likely to continue as firms seek to expand to offset increasing taxes and tighter regulation in Britain.

While it emphasised that there was no certainty that a full offer will be made by GVC, Bwin.party said it was discussing the proposed deal with its advisers “with a view to progressing certain aspects of the GVC proposal to enable that proposal to be evaluated fully by the Bwin.party board”.

However, GVC’s initial bid was put under pressure after news broke that 888 had agreed a deal to acquire rival bwin.party for approximately £898.3 million.

Bwin and GVC said on Friday the firms were usually functioning to consider GVC’s hottest offer.

The new offer is still short of the 135-140 pence-per-share price that SpringOwl, one of Bwin’s top five shareholders, had said would entice shareholders to the table.

Bwin’s shares were up 2.4 percent at 111.2p by 1454 GMT, when GVC’s share price was down 1.6 percent at 418p.

Having accepted 888 Holdings £908 million bid, bwin.party governance are helping deliver the final takeover terms to company investors.