Former Amaya Gaming CEO, David Baazov is offering $3.65 billion to assume control of the company. Baazov’s offer comes just days after the company announced its Q3 results which included a hefty boost in revenues.
Baazov’s bid, according to a recent report on CalvinAyre.com, will be formally submitted some time this week. His offer, which will come from an new investor group that includes:
- Head & Shoulders Global Investment Fund
- Goldenway Capital
- Ferdyne Advisory Inc
- KBC Aldini Capita
His offer also included a pledge of $200 million to help cover $200 million that is owed to former Rational Group owners Isai and Mark Scheinberg. This component of Baazov’s offer is important as payments to the Scheinberg’s have sometimes been a drag on Amaya’s overall revenues.
The report also mentioned that Baazov believes it’s really in Amaya Gaming’s best interest to become a private company, instead of a publicly held company.
What the report doesn’t mention, but that anyone familiar with Baazov’s situation is thinking, is that the former CEO is facing a host of criminal charges that all revolve around the violation of public trust in the form of insider trading. It can readily be assumed that his legal situation, which is far from resolved, has tainted his view of publicly held enterprises.
Should Baazov’s bid be successful, he would be taking over a company that’s currently in pretty good shape. Q3 revenue at the gaming behemoth is up more than 9% over this time last year. Overall, Amaya Gaming is on track to clock adjusted earnings of more than $300 million this year.
So far, there’s been no official reaction from the company regarding Baazov’s offer.