Any ideas why BPTY has opened some 35% up. Not complaining as I took the plunge a couple of days. Presumably there has been some press comment somewhere?

StockMarketWire.com
Online gaming group has confirmed it has made a takeover approach for bwin.party digital entertainment.

The company said the board had noted press speculation concerning a possible offer and said it believes that there is significant industrial logic in a combination of 888 and bwin.party.

Due to the size of the proposed transaction, it would require the approval of 888 shareholders. 888 shareholders representing approximately 59% of 888's share capital have irrevocably committed, subject to customary conditions, to vote in favour of the proposed transaction.

888 stresses there can be no certainty that the submission of this proposal will lead to the company being selected as the proposed acquirer of bwin.party or, in turn, completing a transaction. A further update will be provided in due course.

Canaccord note:
"After months of speculation, the buyers are finally queuing up. GVC confirmed on Friday that it has proposed a reverse takeover of bwin.party and 888 has now confirmed that it has proposed an offer comprising cash and shares. BPTY is now in play, and while the trading backdrop remains challenging, there now appears to be a high probability of a contested take-over bid.
The GVC offer has merit. GVC has done an excellent job absorbing the unregulated businesses from Sportingbet, as part of a joint bid with William Hill. GVC shares are up by 250% since it announced the Sportingbet approach in 2012, through a combination of an extremely low price paid and strong execution. BPTY would be a braver move. GVC would be taking over a business 3 times bigger (BPTY’s £830m MV compares with GVC at £221m), and it would be issuing a lot of shares for a business on a much higher valuation (FY16F 10.8x EV/Ebitda, against GVC on 7.2x, and it would have to offer and premium). But we estimate that if the deal was at a 30% premium to Thursday’s close
(i.e. 116p), included 25% in cash (i.e. £190m of debt, or 1.5x pro forma combined FY16 Ebitda), it took out €15m of costs in FY16 (or 10% of GVC’s FY15 cost base) and it was able to sell the Kalixa payments business for €100m, then the combined entity would be on a FY16 EV/Ebitda of 8.5x; it would have high exposure to unregulated markets, but with the promise of tighter cost management and further synergies to drive growth, it would look relatively attractive versus the peer group. And there could be other noncore asset disposals to further reduce the cost. 888, by comparison, would have the advantages of greater scale (£594m MV), a higher rating (at 12.1x EV/Ebitda it is broadly in line with BPTY), and the ability to raise more debt (comfortably over £300m, given existing net cash of $87m). The shareholder structure (two families control 54%) might have been a stumbling block, but they appear to have backed the approach (59% of 888′s shareholders have backed the deal). This appears to put 888 in the driving seat. Impact on the Canaccord Genuity view.
bwin.party will produce a trading update on Thursday, and we expect it to be weak (we see a likely deterioration from the -12% revenue run rate in the first two months), with further downward pressure on our forecasts. However, William Hill’s bid approach for 888 highlighted the attractions of a strong Online Gaming technology platform in a consolidating market, and BPTY offers strong sportsbook, Casino and poker platforms. The GVC and 888 approaches should underpin the share price in the short term and we see potential speculation over other additional interested parties.
Valuation After the rally on Friday, BPTY is on a 2015F PER of 22.6x and EV/Ebitda of 11.5x. This looks relatively expensive given the trading backdrop, but the existence of multiple bidders suggests a materially increased probability of a take-out premium. We raise our TP from 92p to 115p (a 30% premium to Thursday’s close, but a realistic target for any bidder) and move from Hold to BUY, given the rising probability of an attractive take-out offer."

StockMarketWire.com
GVC Holdings has confirmed that its proposal for bwin.party digital entertainment would be jointly financed with Amaya, Inc.

Amaya is the Toronto Stock Exchange listed owner of gaming and related consumer businesses, with brands including PokerStars, Full Tilt and the European Poker Tour and at the close of business on 15 May had a market value of approximately C$4.31bn.

GVC stresses that there can be no certainty that the submission of its proposal will lead to it being selected as a proposed acquirer of bwin.party or, in turn, completing an acquisition.

StockMarketWire.com
bwin.party digital entertainment's total revenues in the first quarter were 6% up on the previous three months but down 6% year-on-year at €155.3m (2014: €165.7m).

Nationally regulated and/or taxed markets represented 62% of total revenue (2014: 56%); mobile/touch represented 30% of gross gaming revenue (2014: 17%).

The group says cost savings of €15m per annum are on-track for 2015 following completion of its technology integration, the sale of non-core businesses and more efficient, product-led marketing spend.

And it says the non-core asset disposal programme on-course to generate proceeds of between €30m and €50m2 in 2015, in-line with previous guidance.

Chief executive Norbert Teufelberger said: "The group has delivered solid growth since Q4 2014 on the back of continued mobile expansion. However, a lower than expected gross win margin in sports betting as experienced by other gaming operators and continued challenges in poker held back our year-on-year revenue performance during the first three months of 2015.

"Despite slightly lower revenue and additional taxes, continued careful management of our costs and further operational efficiencies have meant that Group Clean EBITDA margins for the first quarter are ahead of the Board's expectations and also ahead of last year.

"In the United States, draft legislation is being considered in both California and Pennsylvania. On the back of the strength of our US platform and existing partnerships (that now includes a market access partner in Pennsylvania), we believe that we are well-placed to secure a leading position in each of these markets should a suitable regulatory and fiscal framework be introduced. "We are making good progress in respect of our non-core asset disposals and remain on track to meet the €30-€50m target2 for sale proceeds this year." "In the period since the end of March, net gaming revenues are up 6% year-on-year, driven by sports betting that is up 25% year-on-year. Given our expanding mobile footprint, increased focus on the core business and the associated programme of operational efficiencies, we remain on-track for the full year."

StockMarketWire.com
bwin.party digital entertainment has sold its interests in World Poker Tour to Ourgame International Holdings on a debt free/cash-free basis for US$35m, payable in cash.

Ourgame is a fast-growing Hong Kong-listed social gaming company with interests across Asia and a market capitalisation of approximately HK$5.7 billion (US$733m).

Under the terms of the transaction, bwin.party will continue to sponsor various WPT events and television shows in both the United States and Europe until 31 December 2016.

In addition, bwin.party also has a right of first refusal over such additional sponsorship opportunities that may become available until 31 December 2016. Having been acquired in September 2009 for US$12.3m, in the year to 31 December 2014, World Poker Tour reported total revenue of $10.4m and a loss at the Clean EBITDA level of $4.1m.

Chief financial officer Martin Weigold said: "Over the past six years we have built WPT into a global franchise, with tournaments and TV deals in many countries including Asia where poker remains a popular and growing sport. However, consistent with our strategy of divesting our non-core assets, we believe that now is the right time to release that value for shareholders so that we can focus our efforts on our core real money gaming and technology business."

StockMarketWire.com
bwin.party digital entertainment's gaming revenue in the three months to 30 June was in-line with its expectations and the board remains confident in the full year outlook.

The group says sports turnover was ahead of plan although sports gross win margins were below normalised levels.

Mobile/touch has continued to grow strongly: in June 2015 mobile/touch represented (31%) of total gross gaming revenue (June 2014: 23%) with sports betting at over 50% (June 2014: 37%). The group says non-core asset disposals have already realised over €36m, in-line with its target of €30m to €50m.

Chief executive Norbert Teufelberger said: "Despite challenging comparatives together with the impact of EU VAT and POC tax, we are pleased with our business performance in the first half. We have completed our new organisational set-up and streamlined our decision-making processes, significantly improving our operational performance.

"Sports volumes are ahead of last year despite the 2014 World Cup, although poor sporting results drove gross win margins lower, holding back revenue performance in the period. Casino betting volumes have also remained strong and in poker we are closing the gap on last year. Our bingo revenue was in-line with last year but our UK business now attracts the POC tax that was introduced in December 2014.

"We have made good progress on the disposal of our non-core assets with World Poker Tour, Winners2 and United Games all sold during the second quarter and we have already reached our target range of €30m to €50m of disposal proceeds. As well as generating cash, these disposals are also helping us to reduce the complexity within our business.

"Our shift to a label-led structure is delivering the operational efficiencies we anticipated and we are on course to generate cost savings of at least €15m this year.

"We remain confident about the prospects for the second half and the outlook for our business."

GVC Holdings PLC

Offer discussions with bwin.party digital entertainment plc ("bwin.party")

GVC notes today's announcement made by bwin.party and confirms that it has made a proposal to acquire all of the outstanding and to be issued share capital of bwin.party at a price of 110 pence per bwin.party share, comprised of a combination of new GVC shares and cash. GVC looks forward to working with bwin.party and its advisers with a view to securing acceptance of its proposal and, in turn, making an offer to bwin.party shareholders.

There can be no certainty that an offer for bwin.party will be made. GVC will provide a further update for shareholders as and when appropriate.

Kenneth Alexander, Chief Executive of GVC Holdings plc, said: "Any offer made by GVC for bwin.party would include part of the consideration in new GVC shares. Based on our experience with the successful Sportingbet acquisition and restructuring, we believe that the potential combination of GVC and bwin.party would result in substantial financial and operating synergies and represent an excellent opportunity for both GVC and bwin.party shareholders."
For further information:

GVC Holdings PLC
Kenneth Alexander, Chief Executive
Tel: +44 (0) 1624 652 559
Richard Cooper, Group Finance Director
www.gvc-plc.com

"888 and Bwin have announced they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended offer, whereby 888 will pay 104.09p per share (lower than the GVC offer of 110p per share) to acquire the entire issued share capital of Bwin. Bwin shareholders will receive 39.45p in cash and 0.404 888 shares (with a mix and match facility available). Synergies are estimated to be on less than $70m (by 2018) and the acquisition is anticipated to be EPS enhancing in year one. Following today's acquisition we upgrade 888 from Sell to Hold and increase our target price to 150p (from 96p)."

reliable source, bid total cost £i.4 bn = £ 1 .17 of equity /cash b win shares are
worth ends BB

gvc shares @ 400 x .231 = 92 cash 25p =total 117p for every bwin ord as previous BB