Amaya Holds Their Annual Meeting Behind Closed Doors

amayaThe gaming firm known as Amaya decided to hold its annual meeting behind closed doors as many speculate they are continuing talks to evaluate a takeover of the company. With many offers coming in including one from the former Chairman David Baazov, the company has a lot to think over when determining a route to take.

This is the first gathering of the higher up Amaya executives ever since the previous boss of the company ended up being charged due to insider trading in Quebec, in which the organization then elect Paul McFeeters and Merrill Lynch onto the board of directors to take the place of Daniel Sebag and Baazov.

Amaya excluded all media and non-shareholders from attending the meeting. Despite this, the company is insisting that it has nothing to hide and spokesman Eric Hollreiser basically said that it was being treated as an appropriate situation for the shareholders this year.

Baazov is the highest stakes shareholder in the company as he owns a total of 24.5 million shares in the enterprise, which means that he clings onto a 17% ownership of the company. He has been placed on an indefinite paid leave of absence due to the charges being presented against him, which accuses him of actively working to manipulate the price of shares in the company and keep hidden information between the major sources regarding the $4.9 billion purchase of PokerStars and the sister site Full Tilt, which came out of a sale back in 2014 with the Oldford Group.

The governing body of the investigation is claiming that Baazov is one of 14 members that are being investigated for using private access to critical information in order to reap $1.15 million in illegal profit from the stocks they own in the company. Among those that have been charged in this case, Baazov’s brother is also being scheduled to appear before the court in Quebec later this year in early September.

This has caused quite an odd situation for the company. Jason Ader, the Chief Executive Officer for SpringOwl, informed the National Post after the meeting that there is a controversy involved with the company at this time but the business holds a lot of value and assets.

Baazov was also present at the AGM, and he had proposed earlier in the year to take the company private in a $2.15 billion dollar deal that would evaluate each share at being worth $14.98. ā€œIā€™m just a shareholder of the company in support of management,ā€ he stated as he left the meeting.

Despite this, the company does appear to be thriving as they just passed an amazing number of over 100 million customers, and reported $183.67 million in revenue as of last year. This was a significant leap over 2014 that only saw a $5.76 million revenue evaluation. The company continues to move forward and continue on their path of growth and prosperity and hopes to leave all of this bad news behind as they venture forth.