Skip to main content

Centrebet make a bid for IAS

Mark Read has been trying to sell IAS for a while, but asking a ridiculous price. This sounds a bit more like it, although I'm not sure exactly what Centrebet will gain from it. I doubt there'd be too many punters betting at IAS that don't already have Centrebet accts.

Read the SMH article here

I worked for IAS in 98-99 and still have some shares left after they floated during that time. They're worth about 10% of what I paid for them, now I'll be able to cash in and buy three cases of beer, hooray!

FURTHER UPDATE

Online gaming group International All Sports gained 11c, or 68.75 per cent, to 27c after rival Centrebet made a takeover bid for it at a minimum $18.59 million and up to $29.91 million. Centrebet last traded at $1.34.

204,000 shares traded today, with a low of 26.5 cents. Price opened significantly higher, as usually happens with takeover bids.

Rumours abound that the board will resist the hostile takeover.

FEB 3 UPDATE

From The Australian newspaper

"Centrebet (CIL) $1.34 International All- Sports (IAS) 27c IN late 2007, IAS assured investors a "phalanx of local and international" players were clamouring to acquire the corporate bookmaker after putting itself up for auction.

Instead, IAS has been left with Centrebet's $29 million hostile play, dubbed inadequate and a "flagrant breach" of a standstill agreement relating to earlier failed discussions. IAS, which refused Centrebet's request to lift the deed, will now "vigorously defend" its position before the Takeovers Panel, which can consent to void the agreement."


And a funny, yet very true assessment further into the article..

"Centrebet's offer is conditional on 50.1 per cent acceptance. Centrebet really wants 100 per cent control -- the offer prices rises to 33c if the compulsory acquisition threshold is breached -- but will have to deal with Read and his 27 per cent stake. Centrebet itself has a dominant holder in founder Con Kafataris, so we would hate to think the failure to do a friendly deal stems from having two egos in a small room."

You won't find many better egos in bookmaking than those two....

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also, ...

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur...