Reports speculate £700 million Cassava float |
|
|
Published
:
Thu, 25 Aug 2005 06:05
|
LONDON - The world's largest Internet casino operator, Cassava Enterprises owner of 888.com is all set to announce an initial public offering said to be worth around £700 million. The flotation on the London Stock Exchange would net its Israeli bosses a huge fortune. Insiders say that the floatation would be announced next Thursday on September 1.
"An IPO is the company's preferred option. The IPO may or may not happen in September. Very preliminary estimates value the firm above 700 million pounds," a source close to the management was quoted as saying. The Financial Times reported that the company was looking to announce the IPO on September 1. Gibraltar-based Cassava also operates Pacific Poker and Reef Club Casino, besides its flagship site 888.com. Two influential Israeli families control the company with 90 percent of the stock owned by them. Avi and Aharon Shaked own about 70 per cent and the Ben-Yitzhak family is in possession of 23 percent of the company. If the public offering were to become a reality, then these families would become millionaires several times over.
The company's British chief executive John Anderson is set to rake in about £7 million from the float. The Israeli families of Shaked and Ben-Yitzhak stand to gain £630 million.
It has also been reported that HSBC would be the sole book-runner on the float. Panmure, Bridgewell and Numis are expected to be the co-lead managers. If the IPO does go ahead, then Cassava would join PartyGaming and Empire Online to be counted as listed gambling companies. However, analysts are wary of reading too much into these moves since it is being speculated that the US would introduce a legislation to ban online gambling.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
