Excapsa Listing Renewed Industry Confidence

Published: Saturday, February 18, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

EXCAPSA LISTING SHOWS RENEWED INDUSTRY CONFIDENCE

GBP 56.2 million raised.

The original target that Excapsa had in mind (see previous Online-Casinos.com & InfoPowa reports) in raising cash through an IPO in London last Thursday was reportedly GBP 75 million. Although the result fell short of that, the company seems pleased enough with their debut, which brought in GBP 56.2 million.

"There is clearly investor appetite for quality companies in this sector" said David Collins, head of corporate finance at Excapsa's legal adviser, Berwin Leighton Paisner, whilst analysts were upbeat and described support for the listing as evidence of renewed interest and confidence in the industry.

The placing raised a total of GBP 56.2 million for the company, giving it a healthy market capitalisation on admission to the exchange of GBP 214.2 million. Company spokesmen said that GBP 26.2 million will be used to eliminate debt and provide additional working capital for the group going forward for possible acquisitions. The successful poker operation UltimateBet is one of the Excapsa subsidiaries.

CEO Jim Ryan said: "We are pleased with the strong investor response to our flotation, which will not only raise our corporate profile but enable Excapsa to maintain its total commitment to client service excellence and value creation."