The pre-listing publicity machine at Party Poker was hard at work this week, with reports from analysts and wire services telling the world that the top online poker site aims to price its flotation on the London Stock Exchange by June 27.
The reports indicate that parent Party Gaming is tentatively planning to list about 800 million ordinary shares (around 20 percent of its capitalisation) and an additional tranche known as a *greenshoe* of about 15 percent depending on demand.
Analysts estimate the listing could value Party Gaming at about $10 billion (GBP 5.5 billion), and they expect the stock to qualify for inclusion in blue-chip indexes compiled by FTSE and MSCI.
The last company to raise an equivalent sum in London was Friends Provident in July 2001, according to financial data providers Dealogic.
Further proof of the boom in Internet poker and London’s position as the listing centre for the industry was provided midweek by Empire Online, which said it plans to list on London’s junior AIM share market on June 15 just before Party Gaming arrives.
Stock in Party Gaming will be sold by its founding shareholders Crystal Ventures, Coral Ventures, Russell De Leon, Ruth Parasol and management.
These shareholders have agreed not to sell any more stock for 12 months in order to help stabilise the share price in the aftermath of the flotation.
Party Gaming will use the listing to gain better access to capital markets, strengthen visibility and promote its brand. Management plans to hit the road to promote the company’s shares to institutional investors between June 14 and June 24.
Broker Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein will be the coordinator and sources claim that the Party Gaming deal will position the firm as one of the leading advisers in the online gaming industry. It handled last year’s expansion into online poker by London-listed Sportingbet, when the company bought the Paradise Poker site.
Edison Investment Research and Durlacher have estimated online gambling revenue – effectively the amount lost by gamblers – as exceeding $8 billion in 2004, up 37 percent from a year earlier.