Empire Online Listing Make Headlines
Published: Friday, June 03, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
EMPIRE ONLINE LISTING CONTINUES TO MAKE THE HEADLINES
Some significant operational numbers
The Haaretz story that formed the basis of our InfoPowa report on the forthcoming listing of Noam Lanir's Empire Online continued to achieve widespread publicity this week, fuelled by an efficient Empire publicity machine.
The thrust of the coverage this week was the returns possible from a well run Internet gambling enterprise, with Haaretz opining that the money in online gambling is astonishing. Noam Lanir's company's numbers are being published before its public offering, and the profits are considerable.
Even though the firm provides the technology behind the gambling sites, and does not service the gamblers directly, it still projects revenues of almost $2 million per employee, of which a cool million is expected to represent profit.
Lanir wrapped up the Empire Online road show for Israeli institutional investors this week, when the online gambling entrepreneur held a two-day conference at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, targeting institutional investors, private investors and investment banks.
In Israel, Empire Online is represented by Tamir Fishman, which is considering allocating $50 million worth of securities to Israeli investors.
The Israelis showed intense interest in Empire Online, which was established in 1998. The firm has been profitable since its founding and for the year 2005 it expects to net $66 million on revenues of $100 million.
Given the surge of demand in Israel and England, where the company will be floated on the AIM, the underwriters are considering increasing the scope of the initial public offering.
Empire Online is expected to hit the market in the first two weeks of June and the issue is expected to be in the $225-275 million range, most of which will go directly into the pockets of the owners, especially Lanir, the largest shareholder. Of this, the firm plans to raise $50 million, with the rest going to the shareholders in exchange for 20 percent of their holdings.
Daniel Leventhal, chief financial officer at Tamir Fishman, described the issue as a golden opportunity. "It's a highly interesting company with high turnover, tremendous profits and enormous growth. Given its profit margin, a billion-dollar company valuation isn't out of the question: It's entirely reasonable," Leventhal said.
Empire Online customers include Casino On Net and Pacific Poker, both of which belong to a duo of brothers: Shay and Ron Ben Yitzhak, and Avi and Aharon Shaked. Lanir has been their business partner since 1998, when they discovered together the tremendous potential of online gaming.
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