As reported by: eGaming Review
PartyGaming, the parent company of Party Poker, has officially announced its intention to pursue a US$10bn listing on the London Stock Exchange at the end of June.

The group confirmed it would be pursuing a full listing with around 23% of the founder's shares offered to the open market.

The valuation of the firm following the listing is predicted to be in the region of US$8-10bn, based on 2004 annual pre-tax profits of US$371.7m.

The firm also revealed profits were up sharply in the first three months of 2005 at US$125.6m and said player sign-ups were slightly ahead of expectations.

Richard Segal, PartyGaming's chief executive, said one of the motivations behind the float was pursuing new acquisitions.

“The online gaming market is fragmented and geographically diverse, which presents opportunities for strategic acquisitions and market consolidation,” Segal said.

Party will be looking at various acquisition targets, but is widely expected to pursue acquisitions of some of the smaller skins in its network as well as rival poker firms.

But Segal added he expected organic growth to continue to continue to drive the business.

“We intend to drive organic growth through the further penetration of our core markets, building the Party brand in broader geographic regions, creating new games and exploiting new channels to market,” Segal said.

There are also plans to bring firm's other brands, StarluckCasino and PartyBingo, under the Party banner with one common wallet.

PartyGaming's non-poker business is currently around 8% of total revenues, but the firm hopes to expand beyond its core poker stronghold.


Article By: eGaming Review