UK’s leading bookmaker William Hill is in talks for a merger with a Canadian gambling and online gambling company Amaya Inc. The two companies said they announced their talks following a recent press speculation.
According to Market Watch, International news agency, Reuters, reported last week Friday, 7th October, 2016 that Amaya, which operates Full Tilt and PokerStars, had received bids from private-equity firms, GVC Holdings PLC, and William Hill.
PokerStars is one of the world’s largest online poker cardrooms and the biggest tournaments online. It controls 70pc of the online poker industry worldwide with 2.26 million quarterly active players and a database of about 100 million users.
Former Amaya CEO David Baazov
Earlier this year, David Baazov, Amaya’s Chief Executive at the time, announced that he and other stakeholders planned to purchase the company for about $2.3 billion CAD. In turn, the company said a special board committee would review the proposal and other possible alternatives.
In March, Baazov was accused of insider trading by Quebec regulators over the 2014 PokerStars deal. Mr. Baazov denied the allegations and went on paid leave at the end of the month and stepped down as Amaya CEO in August 2016.
On Friday, the company’s Toronto-listed shares increased by 9.1% to CA$23.41. On Nasdaq, the shares were trading at $17.40.
