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UK
Casino Times
> Casino
News
03 June 2005
UK Poker Firm Set For
Listing
Fast-growing
online betting group PartyGaming today announced plans for a
stock market flotation.
The world’s biggest
poker
online firm said
it planned to list 23% of its shares on the London Stock
Exchange through an offer to institutional shareholders to
be completed by the end of this month.
Reports have put the
potential flotation value of the whole firm at up to $10bn
(8.2bn). It is the second major listing announced for the
London market this week, following satellite operator
Inmarsat’s confirmation of a £1bn (1.5bn)
flotation move for three weeks’ time.
PartyGaming, whose
Party
Poker online poker
gaming room was set up in 2001 and has more than one million
users, said the offer would allow it to capitalise on growth
in online gaming.
The company, formerly
known as iGlobalMedia, owns and runs the world’s
biggest online poker brand, PartyPoker, as well as other
gaming brands including Starluck Casino and
PartyBingo.
It has more than 1,000
staff, including 126 people at its head office in Gibraltar,
57 marketing staff in the UK and 925 customer support and
software development workers in India.
Pre-tax profits in the
year to December 31 came in at $371.7m (303.1m) against
$89.2m (72.7m) last time.
Chief executive Richard
Segal said the results were "further evidence of the growth
in the online gaming market and specifically online
poker".
Mr Segal said the company
intended to drive organic growth by further exploiting core
markets, building the Party brand in new geographic areas,
creating new games and using new distribution channels such
as mobile phones and other wireless applications.
"A listing will provide us
with a solid foundation to achieve these goals," he
said.
"PartyGaming is a highly
profitable and cash-generative business. Our focus will be
to deliver attractive returns for our shareholders through a
combination of the growth of the business and through the
payment of dividends."
The company said in
January that it had appointed banks to do a strategic review
of its business, with reports suggesting it was considering
a flotation valuing the business at between £3bn
(4.4bn) and £5bn (7.4bn).
Related pages:
Party
Gaming Deals Its Hand To Play For
Market
Random
Poker Notes
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