Party Gaming Buys Two Online Gambling Groups - 12-30-06

December 30 - Party Gaming has again been on an acquisition spree after announcing two strategic online gambling acquisitions this week. The group paid $66.3 million (GBP 33.7 million) in Party Gaming shares for online casino groups Empire Online and Intercontinental Online Gaming...

According to a spoke person, Party Gaming plan to fund the acquisitions through a share issue. The move confirms a lot of speculation from analysts in the past few weeks, and is in line with general opinion that the industry is headed for mass consolidation.

Through the Empire deal, Party will take over well known sites like Noble Poker and Club Dice casino from Empire's stable. The will also take over high quality gaming sites like Casino Las Vegas and Fair Poker from the Intercontinental Group.

Party expects profits in excess of $6 million in 2007 from the Empire sites, and more than $2.5 million from the Intercontinental sites.

"These acquisitions represent excellent value for our shareholders and are consistent with our strategy," said Party's chief executive Mitch Garber.

"The addition of a number of well-known secondary brands will provide opportunities for cross-promotion, increasing customer choice and satisfaction and maximizing the long term value of current and future players."

Empire staff will join Party Gaming and will participate in a $10 million share incentive scheme as part of the deal.

All the sites acquired are Playtech licensed, and Party will apparently be approaching Playtech once the deals have been concluded. It is unknown whether the Playtech deals are to continue, but it seems unlikely as Party has its own casino and poker software,

Click here to read our Party Poker review.

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