GAMBLING INSIDER

Amaya Gaming, Canadian poker operator, has signed a new financial agreement with Isai and Mark Scheinberg, former owners of PokerStars. On 1 February, Amaya was due to pay off its debt of US$197.7 million. Under the new deferred payment deal, Amaya has to pay three months’ worth of non-refundable late fees in order to push back the deadline.

Back in 2014, Amaya acquired PokerStars, managed by the Scheinbergs, for US$4.9 billion. Amaya had paid US$4.7 billion for Rational Group’s assets with immediate cash and deferred payments. The Canadian company were given a deadline of 1 February to pay the outstanding $200mn.

Assenting to postpone the deadline, the Scheinbergs “agreed not to enforce during 2017 their right under the original merger agreement to cause Amaya to use commercially reasonable efforts to issue equity to finance any outstanding balance of the deferred purchase price.”

The new agreement with the Scheinbergs will allow Amaya to deposit the available cash throughout 2017 in order to pay off the debt completely, which will avert “incurring on additional term debt, amendment fees and associated costs and expenses.”

Rafi Ashkenazi, Chief Executive Officer of Amaya Inc., comments: “We believe that our current plan speaks to the strong cash flow generation of our business model and will allow us to continue investing in the success of our business while meeting our pre-existing contractual obligations to the former owners. Based on our operations and performance in 2016, we are confident in our ability to repay the balance of the deferred purchase price in a timely manner.”