PartyGaming trumps Gamynia Ltd in bid for WPT
At the beginning of August, we reported on the World Poker Tour’s proposed sale to investment group Gamynia Limited. In a surprise move, on Tuesday night WPTE CEO Steve Lipscomb announced that the brand would go instead to PartyGaming subsidiary Peerless Media.
Both offers represent a fraction of the WPT’s pre-recession value, but Peerless Media’s offer of $12.3 million plus 5% of future revenues (for a minimum of $3 million over the next three years) was obviously superior to Gamynia’s earlier bid of $9.075 million. While no one in the industry predicted the sudden switch, most gambling market analysts agree that the World Poker Tour will have more potential under the PartyGaming umbrella.
PartyGaming has been open about their plans for aggressive expansion in 2009, and the acquisition of the WPT was an obvious one since the company is already the Tour’s biggest supporter.
