British gambling operator 888 Holdings confirmed that it had made a takeover bid for bwin.party, thus joining gaming company GVC Holdings in the battle for the online gaming provider.
Last week, GVC Holdings announced that it had approached its bigger rival. Officials pointed out that if an acquisition deal takes place, the takeover would be a reverse one, due to bwin.party’s size. In 2013, GVC bought Sportingbet to introduce its operations in the 24 countries where the latter company has been providing its services. Now, it generates more than a half of GVC’s overall revenue.
Earlier today, 888 said in a statement that according to its board, the combination of the two gaming operators would be a logical move. The company also commented that its proposal might not result in a transaction after all. Yet, if bwin.party and 888 merge together, the new business entity’s worth would amount to more than £1 billion.
Gambling operator bwin.party was put up for sale back in November 2014. Last Friday, it confirmed that a number of other operators had expressed interest in its purchase. The company is now carrying out a comprehensive review of all of the submitted bids and is “to make further announcement in due course.”
Apart from 888 and GVC, bwin.party’s name was also linked to Canadian gaming operator Amaya, which purchased online card rooms PokerStars and Full Tilt back in July 2014, as well as British gambling supplier Playtech.
According to gaming analysts, a merger between 888 and bwin.party is likely to take place as they will be able to cut costs related to licensing in various regulated markets and spending about advertising. In addition, 888 would introduce its operations to other markets, due to the fact that bwin.party’s sports betting business is considerably larger.
bwin.party was formed in 2011 after PartyGaming and Austrian gaming group bwin merged together. In 2014, its earnings dropped 6%, which was attributed to weak poker marker across Europe as well as to Greece blocking gambling sites.
As for 888, it was to be purchased by William Hill but the two companies could not reach an agreement over the price of the deal. Founders believed that William Hill’s proposed price of 200p per share was too low. However, they seem to approve of the bid for the purchase of bwin.party, even though have been falling after the failed William Hill acquisition deal.
