Rumours that Google could be preparing a takeover bid for bwin party were widely dismissed this morning by industry sources.
A report on the Daily Mail website said that rumours of a 200p per share cash offer had been circulating lately, with “dealers hearing” that Google could submit its offer before bwin party’s “online poker and casino games are up and running in the state of New Jersey before the end of the year”.
However, bwin party refused to comment on the speculation while City sources pointed out that any potential cash offer of 200p per share had seemingly not had much effect on the gambling operator’s share price, which stood at around 113.5p at the time of writing, a rise of about 3% since trading opened on Friday.
Google did not respond immediately to a request for clarification.
The speculation emerged just two weeks after bwin party warned that its full-year turnover could slump by up to 17% as it streamlines the business to focus on markets where it can generate better returns.
In its interim results, the company revealed that its EBITDA fell year-on-year by a third to €60.7m (US$80.3m) while total revenue dropped by 16% from €410 million to €342.5 million in the six months to the end of June.
Full-year revenue is expected to be between 14% and 17% below the 2012 figure.
