Merger talks dismissed by BWin & PartyGaming

PartyGaming and BWin have denied rumors published over the weekend that the two online gambling operators are in merger talks.

Bwin said it wanted to take part in sector consolidation, but added that it talked to everyone in the industry on an on-going basis and was not in advanced talks with PartyGaming.

A tie up between the two firms would make commercial sense, valuing a Party-Bwin group at around £2bn (both are currently valued at around £1bn) and providing PartyGaming in particular with the sports betting scale and expertise it was hoping to gain when it acquired Gamebookers in 2006 for £75m.

However PartyGaming has repeatedly said it is looking for a major sports betting platform so it can complete a strong product suite in the key egaming verticals of poker, casino and sports betting.

A source told the Sunday Times the discussions were at an early stage, adding that “everyone in the industry is talking to everybody else”, echoing Bwin co-chief executive Norbert Teufelberger’s and 888 boss Gigi Levy’s comments on rumours of a Bwin-888 tie up three weeks ago.

James Hollins at brokerage Daniel Stewart said a Bwin-PartyGaming merger would be “exceptionally strategically compelling”, with Party benefiting on the sports side of its product offer and Bwin gaining from Party’s in-house casino capabilities.

Hollins added: “The combined groups' poker operations would drive clear scale economies and liquidity [Bwin and PartyGaming have the fourth and fifth largest poker networks globally] to compete squarely against the US-facing giants of PokerStars and Full Tilt.”

News Added: 14 December, 2009

Number of views : 835