For weeks now, the online gaming industry has been abuzz with the story involving 888 Holdings, GVC Holdings and bwin.party. With multiple offers and no end in sight, many are beginning to wonder who will actually gain control of mega online gaming supplier bwin.party. Both 888 and GVC have provided offers, with bwin.party continuing to review the proposals.
888 and GVC both provided an initial offer to bwin.party for the acquisition of the company. It was GVC who offered the larger deal but 888’s was less complicated. The board choose 888 and it seemed they would take over the company. However, GVC did not want to be counted out, so they ditched Amaya Gaming, who they had been working with in the beginning and went a different route. So now we have one proposal from 888 and two by GVC.
Fast forward a little bit more and you have 888 given the opportunity to come back with another bid. GVC is considering a 3rd offer to try and persuade bwin.party to choose them. We have now learned that 888 has finally sent in a revised acquisition proposal for bwin.party that is currently being considered along with offers by GVC with the board of bwin.party.
In an announced by bwin.party, it was revealed that 888 had submitted a new proposal. The revised deal was subject to several pre-conditions which can be waived completely or partially by 888. The bwin.party Board will be evaluating the new proposal and will also be looking at the proposal by GVC. The key shareholders of bwin.party will be discussing all offers to make a final decision on which is best for those who have a stake in the company. In due time, the company is reportedly supposed to announce their intentions.
The statement read further that that unanimous decision to take 888’s offer was made on July 17th and remains unchanged by the most recent announcement. Documentation of the offer was given to shareholders on August 28th.
888’s Board has responded, noting that the announcement was made by bwin.party in regards to the potential offer. The Board of 888 continues to feel as though the combo of bwin.party and 888 would generate a significant value for shareholders of each company under the direction of the 888 management team.
The following is additional information from the press release of 888:
So for now, the Board of bwin.party has some thinking to do. The members must decide which option will work best for the shareholders of the company. Will it be 888 who remains the winner and takes over the massive gaming company? Or will it be GVC who moves forward as the new owner of bwin.party? It could be weeks, months or perhaps days until a decision is made. It will be interesting to see who is able to earn the acquisition and how it will affect the online gaming industry across the globe.
