Is Tradal Preparing For An IPO ?

Published: Friday, April 29, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

ANOTHER IPO?

Is Tradal next?

Rumours were swirling around Tradal, a Cyprus headquartered group with interests in Empire Poker last week that it was making moves to list as a public company.

The speculation started when news leaked out that Tradal was in "exclusive" consultations with stockbroking specialists Numis regarding a possibly GBP 500 flotation strategy targeted on London's AIM market.

There has been no confirmation from the company.

Tradal is the latest of a number of poker sites to consider going public. There has be en intense speculation that market leader Party Gaming, which operates the world's largest online poker business, Party Poker, is to float in London after it appointed investment banks Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Investec to advise on its options, including an IPO.

If it presses ahead, Party Gaming is expected to achieve a valuation high enough to propel it straight into the FTSE 100 index of Britain's blue-chip companies.

Similarly, Cassava Enterprises / Casino On Net, owner of the 888.com site, has hired CSFB to advise it on a possible flotation. It is reported to be considering a listing that would value the business at more than GBP 800 million. In addition to 888.com, the Israeli owned group also owns the Pacific Poker network.

UK online betting group Sportingbet was the first British company to generate this level of interest when it acquired Paradise Poker last October for GBP169 million.

Since the deal was announced, shares in the group have more than doubled, and the company's valuation is approaching GBP 1 billion.