Bwin.party says 888 takeover could complete by January
Operator plots re-entry into European markets ahead of deal which could be finalised by the start of 2016
888’s proposed takeover of bwin.party will complete in January assuming it is passed by shareholders and GVC fail to make a late intervention, bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger (pictured above) said this morning.
Speaking at an analysts meeting following the firm’s H1 results, Teufelberger confirmed bwin.party had yesterday asked GVC to clarify their best offer but said the directors’ unanimous recommendation of the 888 offer “remains unchanged”.
He added that documents relating to the 888 offer will shortly be sent out to shareholders, with meetings scheduled for the end of September. Assuming no late intervention or a rejection of the deal the takeover should complete by mid-January.
Despite the continued uncertainty, bwin.party said it was pushing ahead with plans to dispose non-core assets and expand into nationally regulated markets.
Bwin.party will re-enter the newly-regulated Romanian market in H2, with Teufelberger saying he expected the re-launch to make an immediate bottom-line contribution after agreeing to pay 7.9m in back taxes to acquire a licence.
Another market the operator plans to re-enter in H2 is Greece, in partnership with a local licensee, which Teufelberger said would also provide immediate returns to the firm.
“Everyone who wants to go back into Romania has to pay a certain fee,” Teufelberger told analysts. “I think it was disclosed what GVC is paying and what we are paying. GVC is paying 0.9m and we are paying 7.9m, so that gives you an indication of how big our customer base is there.
“We were the number one operator by far in Greece when we pulled out. We believe we will be able to get back some of those customers.
“Our plans are quite conservative and do not involve a big above the line marketing campaign. It will be purely CRM reactivation,” he added.