It has been big news for months that David Baazov was potentially going to buy out Amaya Incorporated, which was going to be a $6.7 billion purchase. The controversy with the deal was that Baazov was facing accusations of inside trading that was making the whole deal a bit shady. This was directly correlated with the Amaya purchase of PokerStars.
Baazov had been the former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman for Amaya Incorporated, but had resigned from the company when he had been charged with communicating information that was privileged and confidential, as well as trying to manipulate the stock values of shares in the company. He has not been found guilty or innocent at this time as the ruling is still out with no verdict, despite this issue being heard months back. Baazov remains Amaya’s biggest investor with a holding of 17.2% of the company’s shares.
David Baazov explained that his decision not to purchase Amaya was a difficult one. He came to this conclusion after speaking with his panel of advisors, having several meetings and negotiations with the Amaya board of directors, and submitting a high offer of $24 a share that was even larger than his original offer of $21 a share.
The entrepreneur had originally shown interest in taking on the company way back in February when he had first announced a deal for a takeover. His bid for the company had been backed by four financiers that would be adding $3.45 billion in order to finance his buyout of the company.
It was explained that the problem with buying Amaya out was the fact that some shareholders were wanting even higher premiums for their shares, which was exceeding the value that Baazov was willing and able to pay. As a result, the best course of action with moving forward was to end his bid and move on to other opportunities. With a closing statement, Baazov stated that this was not a decision that he made lightly and he wishes for success for the company as they continue to grow and succeed.
Right now the share value for Amaya sits at around $14.25 each, which means that even the original offer of $21 was much higher than what investors could expect to get back any time soon. It’s surprising that after moving the offer up to $24 a share there were still investors that wanted a higher premium for their stake in the company and would not budge. This might be speculation that the company has some good fortune to come.
Amaya has been the center for stakeholders and investors for awhile now, even beyond Baazov’s bid for the company. Back in October there had been talks about a possible merger between William Hill and Amaya that would have created one of the largest gambling giants in the world. Despite this major opportunity, investors for both companies had voiced their objections to the merge and had the companies back out of the deal.