Fairground Shares Leap 150 Percent
Published: Monday, October 10, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
FAIRGROUND SHARES LEAP 150 PERCENT
Microgaming associate does well on IPO
In our Online-Casinos.com & Infopowa reports over the past two weeks we have
covered the (then) imminent IPO of online gaming investment company Fairground
Holdings, and as a follow-up we have been monitoring the progress of the listing
on the London Exchange.
The company seems to be enjoying considerable investor popularity, and saw its
share price jump over 150 percent following its listing on the London Stock Exchange
this week. Share prices soared from a listing price of 50p to almost 120p a share
by last Friday.
Based on the Isle of Man, the firm raised GBP 3.8 million through the listing
to fund acquisition of smaller casino, poker, bingo and skill gaming sites. Fairground
has access to a cash chest of GBP 8 million, and is expected to target some of
the smaller casino and poker sites in the Microgaming portfolio in the present
climate of consolidation.
Fairground has an impressive board of directors and is led by chief executive
officer and director Evan Hoff, who co-founded and served as co-CEO of egaming
marketing firm ForwardSLASH from 1997 to 2000.
Hoff said he would use his contacts in the industry to build a "portfolio
of synergistic, cash-generative online gaming businesses. We see many positive
opportunities for consolidation in the smaller end of the fragmented online gaming
sector," he said. "The listing gives us the right public profile and
platform from which to rapidly grow our business through acquisition."
The firm said in an earlier statement it planned to work with Isle of Man-based
Microgaming to "identify opportunities and to develop acquired businesses".
