More online casino news regarding mergers

Once again our regular look at the latest online casino news must focus on another of the takeover/merger deals which are now coming thick and fast within the online casino and online gambling sector. This time it is the sale of the online casino operator Bwin Party which attracts our attention. Bwin Party put itself up for sale last year and over the last few weeks have been considering bids from two rivals, GVC Holdings and 888 Holdings. Since then the final outcome has been somewhat confused. A couple of months ago the Bwin board recommended their shareholders to accept the bid from 888 Holdings in spite of a slightly bigger valuation by GVC, on the basis that the GVC bid was not funded to their satisfaction. As far as online casino games players are concerned GVC are virtually an unknown quantity compared to both Bwin and 888, and do not currently operate an online casino site. What then became clear however was that Kenny Alexander the boss of GVC was not in the mood to go away and soon came back with an even bigger offer and a different funding proposal. Whatever the reason the board of Bwin were persuaded to dump 888 and agree to recommend the GVC deal. We understand that the deal is now finalised and propels GVC Holdings onto the main London Stock Exchange with a value of around £1 billion. It only remains for Mr Alexander to make good his promises to Bwin shareholders, including an ambitious £ 91 million cost saving at Bwin by 2017. As for 888 Holdings, many analysts believe that in this new world of merged giants in the gambling sector they are now vulnerable to a takeover themselves, with William Hill the potential buyer. It has to be said that from our point of view as ordinary fans of playing casino games online it probably makes no difference who owns the online casinos, but takeovers and mergers are always interesting.