GVC and Amaya join forces in BwinParty offer

ne gaming group GVC Holdings has confirmed its proposal to acquire operator BwinParty would be jointly financed by provider Amaya Gaming.

GVC initially announced on Friday that it had made an offer to buy the FTSE 250 company in what would be a reverse takeover, though that statement did not reveal that Amaya was involved in the offer.

Following press speculation that its bid was a joint effort to acquire the operator with Amaya, GVC said in a new statement: “As announced on 15 May 2015, GVC has submitted a proposal with a view to the group acquiring the entire issued and to be issued share capital of BwinParty. GVC confirms that the execution of this proposal would be jointly financed by GVC and Amaya.”

According to the Financial Times, the bid consists of €1.5bn in cash and newly issued GVC shares, and BwinParty’s poker business would immediately be sold to Amaya.

The remainder of the company would be run by GVC’s management through a special purpose vehicle jointly owned by Amaya and GVC, with GVC owning a majority.

The latest announcement from GVC follows confirmation from operator 888 Holdings that it has also submitted a proposal to acquire BwinParty.

GVC completed a joint acquisition of operator Sportingbet with bookmaker William Hill in 2013.

Amaya purchased Oldford Group, the then parent company of operator PokerStars’ owner Rational Group, in a $4.9bn deal in August.