Party Poker Listing Hype Continues
Published: Friday, June 03, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
PARTY POKER LISTING HYPE CONTINUES
June 27 now the target date, say analysts
The pre-listing publicity machine at Party Poker was hard at work this week,
with reports from analysts and wire services telling the world that the top
online poker site aims to price its flotation on the London Stock Exchange by
June 27.
The reports indicate that parent Party Gaming is tentatively planning to list
about 800 million ordinary shares (around 20 percent of its capitalisation)
and an additional tranche known as a *greenshoe* of about 15 percent depending
on demand.
Analysts estimate the listing could value Party Gaming at about $10 billion
(GBP 5.5 billion), and they expect the stock to qualify for inclusion in blue-chip
indexes compiled by FTSE and MSCI.
The last company to raise an equivalent sum in London was Friends Provident
in July 2001, according to financial data providers Dealogic.
Further proof of the boom in Internet poker and London's position as the listing
centre for the industry was provided midweek by Empire Online, which said it
plans to list on London's junior AIM share market on June 15 just before Party
Gaming arrives.
Stock in Party Gaming will be sold by its founding shareholders Crystal Ventures,
Coral Ventures, Russell De Leon, Ruth Parasol and management.
These shareholders have agreed not to sell any more stock for 12 months in order
to help stabilise the share price in the aftermath of the flotation.
Party Gaming will use the listing to gain better access to capital markets,
strengthen visibility and promote its brand. Management plans to hit the road
to promote the company's shares to institutional investors between June 14 and
June 24.
Broker Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein will be the coordinator and sources claim
that the Party Gaming deal will position the firm as one of the leading advisers
in the online gaming industry. It handled last year's expansion into online
poker by London-listed Sportingbet, when the company bought the Paradise Poker
site.
Edison Investment Research and Durlacher have estimated online gambling revenue
- effectively the amount lost by gamblers - as exceeding $8 billion in 2004,
up 37 percent from a year earlier.
STOP PRESS:
IT'S OFFICIAL - PARTY GAMING IS GOING PUBLIC
Company has announced its intentions after weeks of speculation
PartyGaming, the world's biggest online poker company settled weeks of intense
speculation Thursday by announcing plans to float on the London Stock Exchange
in what is likely to be the City's biggest new listing for four years.
Based in Gibraltar, PartyGaming barely existed four years ago but riding a wave
of popularity in online poker playing, the operator of the PartyPoker website
is set to be valued at GBP 5 billion, bringing a major windfall for executives,
shareholders and employees.
With that sort of valuation, PartyGaming would immediately enter the FTSE 100
share index. The flotation would be London's biggest since insurer Friends Provident
in 2001
