GVC confirms Amaya link in Bwin bid

As reported Monday, both GVC and 888 have put in reverse takeover proposals for the betting and gaming operator.

However, GVC yesterday revealed that its bid is jointly financed by Amaya, the Canadian firm which last year bought PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker for $4.90 billion (€4.38 billion).

A GVC statement read: “As announced on 15 May 2015, GVC has submitted a proposal with a view to the group acquiring the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Bwin.party.

“GVC confirms that the execution of this proposal would be jointly financed by GVC and Amaya.

“There can be no certainty that the submission of this proposal will lead to the company's proposal being selected as a proposed acquirer of bwin.party or, in turn, completing an acquisition.”

GVC has experience of linking up with another company to pursue an acquisition after joining with William Hill to buy Sportingbet for £31 million (€43.1 million/$48.2 million) in 2013.

Amaya was a modest supplier of betting equipment and systems based in Montreal until it pulled off one of the biggest takeovers in the history of the gambling industry when it bought the Oldford Group, the owner of PokerStars and Full Tilt, in June 2014.

The company, which is now valued at $3.54 billion, was then raided by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) in December 2014 in connection with the purchase of the Oldford Group, but last month said that “the investigation has not resulted in any proceedings and no charges have been filed.

A statement added: “The company is confident that at the end of the investigation the AMF will come to the same conclusion as Amaya has — that if there were violations of Canadian securities laws, they were not committed by the company, officers or directors."