Takeover Approach At Empire Online
Published: Friday, September 09, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
GBP 790 MILLION TAKEOVER APPROACH AT EMPIRE ONLINE
Newly listed online gambling company is a tempting dish....
Hot news this week was an announcement that Empire Online, which in June became the first internet poker operator to float in London, had received a 270p-a-share offer valuing it at GBP 790 million.
The company, formed in 1997 by Israeli entrepreneur Noam Lanir, said talks about the cash and share offer were at an "extremely early stage" but it had been forced to make the announcement because of a sharp rise in the share price. The initial announcement did not disclose where the approach had originated, but later in the week Sportingbet confirmed that it was the suitor, and there was unconfirmed speculation that arch rival and poker market leader Party Gaming might also be interested. The Sportingbet interest is rooted in its Paradise Poker property.
A company spokesman said: "Empire Online notes the recent movement in its share price and announces that it has received an approach from a party interested in merging its business with that of Empire Online via the acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the Company."
The shares, which first traded at 175p had risen to 228p by the middle of August with the whole sector fuelled by market enthusiasm for internet gambling stocks.The Empire Online stock jumped another 12 percent by the close of trading on Thursday.
In early trading today (Friday) they rose again to 270p.
Empire also announced that it has appointed Andrew Burns as chief financial officer in place of Yossi Pereg, CFO since 1999 who is stepping down for personal reasons. Pereg will resign from his position as CFO and COO and from the board of directors with immediate effect but remain as a consultant to the company and will conduct a thorough handover process.
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