Cryptologic Founder In Forty Million Dollar Deal

Published: Friday, January 14, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

CRYPTOLOGIC FOUNDER IN FORTY MILLION DOLLAR DEAL

CES bids for Don Best

Cryptologic founder Andrew Rifkin's company CES was in the news this week with a mega deal in the sportsbook industry.

Working through a Toronto-based company, British gambling technology firm CES Software PLC has conditionally agreed to acquire Corcom Inc. of Nevada and the assets of its Don Best Sports business.

Founded in 1989, Don Best is a widely used Internet sports information provider based in Las Vegas. The deal could represent a comfortable fit with the Betbull.com betting exchange venture which CES has embarked on with Bet&Win, a publicly quoted online gambling group out of Vienna.

The deal includes payment of $40 million US in cash, the issuance of one million CES shares (TSX:CES - news) on completion, and the issuance of up to one million more shares based on earnings performance.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Don Best lost $250,000 US.

Last August, Corcom agreed to sell Don Best to Celeus Capital Corp., part of JJR Capital Partners (TSX:JJR.P - news), a Toronto-based private equity firm.

JJR later approached CES with the opportunity to acquire Don Best. JJR has conditionally agreed to assign its rights to CES for 2.24 million ordinary shares. CES will also reimburse Celeus for $1 million US of expenses.