Party Gaming Hits 154.7 Pence A Share

Published: Friday, July 08, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

PARTY GAMING HITS 154.7 PENCE A SHARE

But eased on profit taking to 144 pence as markets closed last week

PartyGaming's market capitalisation rose to US$10.2 billion after a lucrative start to trading in its shares on the London Stock Exchange last week.

Institutional investors were keen to buy in a four day lead over the general public, but the firm's valuation took another leap when trading was opened up on Thursday.

Shares opened on 116 pence and climbed as high as 154.7 pence before closing on 144 pence on Friday 1 July, a rise of almost 25 percent. The share has traded at quieter levels this week.

Party's largest shareholder, its operations director Anurag Dikshit, saw his remaining stake rise above US$3 billion.

Similarly the combined shareholding of founder Ruth Parasol and her husband Russ DeLeon is now worth US$3.11billion.

And Vikrant Bhargava, PartyGaming's director of marketing widely credited with spearheading the success of the PartyPoker site, saw his stake rise to US$0.92 billion.

The successful listing helped to revive Empire Online shares, too. The parent company of the largest skin in the PartyPoker network saw its share price finish the week 5 percent above its listing price. Empire had suffered a dip in share prices last week in the wake of negative media coverage of PartyGaming in the run up to its IPO.