Bwin.party sale talks progress, confirms chairman
Philip Yea says the firm has received a number of "indicative proposals" and has entered further stage discussions with each party
Bwin.party this morning confirmed it had received a number of “indicative proposals” regarding the sale of all or part of its business and said it could “spin out” a number of business units following a recent corporate restructure into bwin, gaming and US brands.
Speaking after the firm released its 2014 financial results, chairman Philip Yea (pictured) said the board had entered into a “further stage of discussions” with a number of parties, with Amaya and William Hill two firms previously linked to the online giant.
He said the firm would now weigh-up each proposal with the objective for creating additional value for shareholders.
“Where such proposals may or may not result in an offer being brought forward by the company, the board confirms as and when there are further material developments it will make an announcement,” Yea added.
The update comes after the operator announced it would restructure its business into four main arms – Bwin labels, Gaming Labels, US and studios – back in August and this morning bwin.party Norbert Teufelberger said the restructure would make it easier to “spin out” one of its operating units in the future.
“Everything we are doing by organising ourselves into individual business units increases optionality,” Teufelberger said.
“What we are building at the same time is a stronger business in itself, with separate and distinct business units, which we could potentially spin out and create value,” he added.
Teufelberger also said bwin.party planned to “complete its laundry list” of “packaging up and selling” non-core assets such as its Win, Winners, and Conspo businesses during the year, which he said would raise between 30m and 50m for the firm.
The update comes after bwin.party announced full-year revenues and EBITDA had both dropped 6% year-on-year to 611.9m and 101.2 respectively.
And a non-cash impairment charge of 104m against poker-related and other “intangible assets” and “non-core investments” saw profits after tax tumble 329% from 41.1m to a loss of 94.3m.