888 Holdings Joins Takeover War For bwin.party

A takeover war seems to be brewing over gambling group bwin.party. Amaya Gaming, who were in talks with bwin.party for over six months now, recently joined hands with GVC Holdings to strengthen their takeover bid and help compete with a cash-and paper offer 888 Holding Private Limited recently made to the online giant.

888 Holdings, which operates several high profile gambling websites, made their interest public through a press release which stated that it has “submitted a proposal regarding acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of bwin.party for consideration comprising cash and 888 shares.”

However, the release also mentioned that such a possible acquisition would require approval of 888 shareholders. The procedure to clear it would require “approximately 59 per cent of 888’s sharecapital to irrevocably commit, subject to customary conditions, to vote in favour of the proposed transaction.”

Even bwin.party came out in the open stating that talks are on with interested parties for a takeover. “Further to recent media speculation regarding a possible bid for bwin.party, the Board of bwin.party confirms that it has entered into preliminary discussions with a number of interested parties regarding a variety of potential business combinations with a view to creating additional value for bwin.party shareholders,” a message from the company read months ago dropping broad hints about the takeover process.

But it was also clear in indicating that the final word in this takeover war is yet to be settled. “Negotiations are confirmed but to date nothing concrete has been arranged,”the company stated.

Bwin.party Digital Entertainment, which was formed in 2011 following the merger of Party Gaming and Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, used to be a dominant player in the online gaming industry. However over the last few years, the parent company of Party Poker and the World Poker Tour (WPT) has lost a lot of sheen with its poker and bingo products failing to attract new players.