Ex Chief Executive offers C$3.8bn for Amaya

er Chief Executive of Amaya, David Baazov, has offered to buy the Canadian online gambling company for C$3.48bn.

Baazov, who already owns about 17.2 per cent of Amaya, expressed his intent to take-over the company in February, and has now made a C$24-per-share offer, which represents a premium of 30.9% to Amaya's Friday closing price of C$18.34.

Following an investigation back in February, Baazov was charged with insider trading by Quebec's securities regulator, for trading in Amaya’s stock before the $4.9 billion acquisition of Rational Group, and the company announced that he had taken an indefinite paid leave of absence. Baazov resigned from his position at Amaya in August.

Amaya promised to pay $200 million of the $400 million deferred purchase price for the acquisition of the Rational Group in 2014, by approximately November 18. Baazov claimed that the to-be-formed entity which will purchase Amaya will set aside $200 million until its acquisition of Amaya goes though. Baazov stated that the entity will release funds in advance if the deferred payment is due before the deal closes.

Although Amaya and British bookmaker William Hill ended merger talks early this autumn, Amaya reported a third-quarter profit which was a lot better than anticipated, and increased its full-year adjusted share forecast to $1.78-$1.83 from $1.71-$1.82. Amaya's total revenue increased by 9.5% to $270.8 million from $247.3 million, and customer registrations rose by 1.9 million to approximately 105.5 million in the quarter.

Amaya's Toronto-listed shares had risen by 5.2% this year as of Friday's close.