LONDON - Internet gaming services company, Empire Online Ltd has received a £790 million (€1.2 billion) takeover approach less than three months after it became a listed firm. Empire Online provides traffic to sites such as PartyGaming and 888.com by directing prospective customers to these sites.
The company declined to name the bidder, but analysts are speculating that it is most probably PartyGaming. In a statement, the company confirmed that an approach has been made, but gave no indications of which way the balance would swing, "The board of Empire Online has commenced discussions with the interested party, but these discussions are at an extremely early stage and there can be no guarantee that an offer will be made for the company at 270p per share or at all. The approach is subject to a number of pre-conditions, including completion of satisfactory due diligence," the statement said.
Israeli businessman Noam Lanir founded Empire Online in 1998 and since then the firm has only grown from strength to strength as the market for online casino games such as poker and roulette began booming. The success enjoyed by Empire can be measured form the fact that the firm reported a massive rise of 88 percent rise in pre-tax profits for the first half of the year. In figures the profits clocked $25.5 million (£13.9 million).
This announcement was followed by one from online money transfer firm NETeller, which reported that profits had more than doubled to $40.6 million (€32.4 million). This announcement only underlined the fact that online gambling was catching on. In such a scenario it makes sense for PartyGaming to acquire Empire. A PartyGaming spokesman declined to comment on the rumors.
Posted
on : Fri, 02 Sep 2005 19:20 GMT | Business News
By : Anne Philips
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