Bhargava sells majority of remaining PartyGaming shares

PartyGaming, Plc. founder Vikrant Bhargava has unloaded 160 million shares in the business, netting the former marketing director an estimated $97 million.

U.K. newspapers are reporting that Bhargava's company, Coral Ventures, sold the shares at 30.5 pence a piece, which amounts to 4% of the PartyGaming business.

Bhargava is believed to be investing his windfall in a Gibraltar hedge fund by the name of Sirius.

The move comes after the company's founding shareholders - Bhargava, Anurag Dikshit, Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon - sold 200 million shares for $454 million in June.

While Bhargava, who co-founded PartyGaming with fellow Indian Dikshit, now owns less than a 3% stake in the company, Dikshit is its largest shareholder with a 29% stake.

Prior to the sale, PartyGaming's share price dropped by almost 60% with the advent of U.S. gambling legislation in October. The company sold its American business - shutting down an 800-person call centre in India - and began focusing on European markets.

courtesy of Erin Warner

News Added: 12 January, 2007

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