Bwin and PartyGaming Deny Merger Talks
15th December, 2009
It has been hinted in recent press that Bwin and Party Gaming are in merger talks, says eGaming Review, however the two online operators have since refused to confirm such stories.
Bwin has said that it would like to take part in sector consolidation but stressed that it is talking to everyone in the industry on an ongoing basis and it’s not in advanced talks with Party Gaming.
This is despite a merger making commercial sense; the value of a Party-Bwin partnership would be around £2bn as both are currently values at £1bn. The merger would provide Party Gaming with the sports betting and expertise it hoped to gain when it acquired Gamebookers for £75m back in 2006.
Although Party Gaming has said it is looking for a major sports betting platform so that it can provide a strong product suite in the verticals of poker, casino and sports betting. A source told the Sunday Times that “everyone in the industry is talking to everybody else”. This echoes Bwin co-chief executive, Norbert Teufelberger and 888 boss Gigi Levy’s comments on rumours of a Bwin-888 tie up three weeks ago.
James Hollins at brokerage Daniel Stewart said a Bwin-PartyGaming merger would be “exceptionally strategically compelling”, Party would benefit on the sports side of its product offer and Bwin gaining from Party’s in-house casino capabilities.
Hollins continued, “The combined groups' poker operations would drive clear scale economies and liquidity [Bwin and PartyGaming have the fourth and fifth largest poker networks globally] to compete squarely against the US-facing giants of PokerStars and Full Tilt.”
By Faye
