It ain't over 'til it's over. Just when most of us thought 888's takeover of bwin.party was secured, it is reported by seval respected newspapers that GVC Holdings is still considering making a counteroffer to acquire bwin.party. According to The Telegraph, GVC Holidings is considering a last shot at bwin.party without the backing of Amaya, the owner of PokerStars and Full Tilt. However, no figures are mentioned.
Although GVC's previous offer was greater than 888's, bwin.party decided to go for 888 because of, for example, a better deal for its shareholders in the long term, overlap offices in Gibraltar, Israel and Romania and the fact that its Bingo software runs on 888 technology.
According to PokerNews, Amaya's presence might have prevented the first deal from happening. Rumours had it that bwin would have been split into half if it went for GVC's initital offer, with the sports betting going to GVC and the poker operations to Amaya.
The Telegraph reports that GVC, a company with a market value of £250.9 million, needs to raise a lot of money if it attempt to buy bwin.party. If it succeed, however, it might have a better chance this time without Amaya.
