Former Amaya CEO making bid to reclaim his company

[The Buzz]

Two weeks after merger talks between William Hill and Amaya ended abruptly, former CEO David Baazov is making a bid to reclaim the company he founded, making a "cash offer to take the Canadian owner of the PokerStars online gambling service private in a deal valued at about $6.7 billion, including debt."

“As the online gaming industry continues to mature, I believe that it is in the best interests of Amaya to be positioned as a private company,” Baazov wrote in a letter to the company’s board, the filing shows. “While Amaya incurs the substantial costs and scrutiny associated with being a reporting company, it obtains no benefit from being public.”

Baazov said he was also prepared to pay $200 million toward a deferred payment the company owes to the former owners of PokerStars, which Amaya bought in 2014.

“Because of my familiarity with Amaya, I am in a position to negotiate a definitive agreement that need only contain limited representations and warranties, on an expedited basis, thereby reducing any distraction to management,” Baazov said. “I expect to be able to settle the terms of the definitive agreement quickly.”

Read more from Bloomberg here: http://bloombergtv.ca/2016-11-14/new...-billion-deal/

[universal4]

Being willing to assume the debt just may give the deal some traction...

Rick
Universal4