888 values £590 million at float

888 values £590 million at float

	Published : Fri, 30 Sep 2005 06:05 By : Phil Bateman Print this Story

LONDON - Online casino operator 888 Holdings PLC set the price of its imminent float on the London markets at 175 pence-a-share thus valuing the company at £590 million (€864 million). This value is at the lower end of the range given by the company when it announced its intentions to float.

Earlier this month 888 had said that its float would be valued in the range of £546.1 million (€800 million) and £714.6 million (€1.04 billion). However, PartyGaming's warnings that the demand of the online gaming market was slowing down appears to have hindered 888 from a high-end value, even though it insisted that PartyGaming's predictions had nothing to do with the final offer. The company's initial valuation was in the region of £800 million.

888's financial advisers at HSBC set the final value of the shares and it looked like investors welcomed 888 onto the market as shares increased by 2 pence to 177 pence after the first hour of trading. "We are delighted that 888's IPO [initial public offering] has attracted such strong support among leading UK and European institutional investors," said John Anderson, chief executive of 888. "We have a clear strategy for creating sustainable shareholder value by becoming the market leader in the online gaming industry and continuing to provide our members with a comprehensive range of gaming activities in a secure and trusted environment."

Even though the final pricing may have been below 888's expectations the firm said this morning that the issue was "approximately five times subscribed." 888 had announced that its market share grew by 14.2 percent and that its net revenues for July and August stood at £13 million, thus nixing the slowing down predictions.