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Online Blackjack News - Inspired Gaming Online Casinos to make Big Bucks out of Investment
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Luke Alvarez and Norman Crowley, the co-chief executives, and Russell Hoyle, the chairman, were each awarded almost 3.4m share options when the company went public in June last year. Each set of shares would be worth about £13m if the proposed deal goes ahead. On Friday, FL confirmed that it had made an indicative offer of 385p a share for Inspired, and that it was carrying out due diligence on the business after being granted access to its financial information.
The Icelandic firm is already a 10% shareholder in the company, which specialises in distributing amusement machines to pubs, betting shops and bingo halls. The three bosses will not be the only boardroom beneficiaries of a deal. Another director, Jim O’Halleran, is sitting on nearly 1.8m share options that would be worth £6.8m if the bid goes ahead.
One analyst said that the stock had more than doubled since the flotation. “They have done a very good job for shareholders,” he said.
News of the potential takeover started to leak on Thursday, forcing Inspired to confirm to the stock market that it had received an approach. FL followed suit later the same day. Inspired shares closed at 365p on Friday, some way below the proposed offer price. That indicates that the market thinks it unlikely that a counterbid for the group will emerge.
Inspired was originally part of the old Bass leisure conglomerate before being acquired by Duke Street Capital, the private-equity firm, in a buyout. It was later sold to Henderson Capital, before floating last year. The business has changed substantially since its Bass days. Rather than loading fruit machines on and off lorries and moving them round pubs, games and music are sent remotely to the terminals. This means it is a lot easier to change the games if customers lose interest.
Inspired Gaming also provides other services, such as vending machines and digital jukeboxes. Rank Group, the casino and bingo operator, is to begin offering its customers the chance to play its games on their mobile phones. It has agreed a deal with Probability, a quoted firm specialising in mobile gaming, under which the technology company will provide blackjack, roulette and other products to Rank customers. The service will be branded as Blue Square, the name of Rank’s online-gambling operation.
The two companies have agreed a revenue-share arrangement. The deal is expected to be announced this week.
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| Source:
Blackjack2002 News Staff
| Monday, 10 September 2007 |
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