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| Online betting company Bwin accepts GVC takeover bid | Online betting company Bwin accepts GVC takeover bid |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Online betting company Bwin has accepted a £1.1bn takeover offer from GVC Holding in preference to rival bidder, 888. | Online betting company Bwin has accepted a £1.1bn takeover offer from GVC Holding in preference to rival bidder, 888. |
| Bwin had originally agreed to an offer from 888, worth about £900m, but GVC fought back. | |
| The directors of Bwin - which has been up for sale since November - said GVC's offer was "fair and reasonable". | The directors of Bwin - which has been up for sale since November - said GVC's offer was "fair and reasonable". |
| Bwin Chairman Philip Yea admits shareholders were split about abandoning the 888 offer. | |
| "There was a pretty even split of those that expressed views one way or the other. But we also had a significant block of shares that was happy to support the board on its deliberations," Reuters quoted him as saying. | |
| GVC's offer of 25p in cash and 0.231 new GVC shares comes to nearly 130p per Bwin.party share based on Thursday's closing price. | |
| Earlier this week it was reported that GVC was prepared to launch a hostile bid for Bwin, whose brands include Partypoker, Partycasino and Foxy Bingo. | |
| Stricter regulations are pushing online gambling companies to merge to try and reduce operating costs. | |
| Size is also seen as vital to ensure competitiveness in an online market buoyed by the use of tablets and mobiles. |