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Monday 19th December 2005
Ongame, the world’s third largest poker group, is to be sold to rival online gaming company, Betandwin for at least €473m. The deal, which is expected to be finalised by April 2006, will create the second largest online poker operator in the world – second only to PartyGaming.
The price for Ongame, which is currently debt-free, was set at a 5.37 multiple of Ongame’s net revenues in 2005 and is expected to amount to at least €473.6m. The parties agreed that 45% of the price would be paid in cash, whilst 40% would be financed by shares in Betandwin. The remaining 15% is to be paid by the first quarter of 2009, dependant on Ongame’s financial performance.
Norbert Teufelberger, co-CEO of Betandwin described the benefits for his company of obtaining Ongame’s customer base, 'the acquisition enables us to establish Betandwin as a one-stop, global gaming and sports betting brand significantly earlier than either company could deliver independently.'
CEO of Ongame was equally enthusiastic in saying “Together we will have an increased capacity to further develop our leading positions in sports betting and poker, and expand our offerings, including our poker network, to third parties while launching global campaigns for our proprietary brands.”
The announcement of the acquisition of Ongame makes that company’s previous plans to publicly float in London in 2006 redundant.
Source: OnlineCasinoNews
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