Partygaming Float - interesting article

[Simmo!]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4620109.stm

The BBC (as ever!) have a good article on the recent float here. Also delves into US online gambling law...thought some might find it an interesting read.

Its funny but the other day i read in a paper about an investor who bought a load of shares but beleived gambling was immorla. Er...so what's investing if it's not gambling?!

My bet: Debut - sharp rise, long gradual fall, level out at half-the debut price

Cheers

Simmo!

PS. Also worth a read: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4615343.stm - "The Human Cost Of Online Gambling"

[Webzcas]

Well they are doing okay this morning. I'm guessing they will continue to climb and be worth more 6 months down the line than their initial floatation price.

Fancy betting against me on Betfair Simmo?

[Simmo!]

Originally Posted by Webzcas

Well they are doing okay this morning. I'm guessing they will continue to climb and be worth more 6 months down the line than their initial floatation price.

Fancy betting against me on Betfair Simmo?

Absolutely matey. £10 says in 2 years time they'll be worth half what they are at the end of this week

[Webzcas]

Done.

[Simmo!]

Originally Posted by Webzcas

Done.

Cool - better bookmark this thread then. Easiest £10 i ever made

[Webzcas]

Cool - better bookmark this thread then. Easiest £10 i ever made

[spearmaster]

Anyone who knows how I can sign up with a UK broker online to get shares, let me know please. I am of the view that PG will outdo Google's performance.

It's not every day that a company cracks the FTSE 100 on debut, after all.

[Simmo!]

Originally Posted by spearmaster

It's not every day that a company cracks the FTSE 100 on debut, after all.

Damn you spotted my theory SM. Hit the FTSE 100 on your first day and there's only 1 way to go from there

Seriously though i think this is great news for the industry in general. While it won't convince any moralists, it does kind of bring the whole online gambling thing more into the open and should hopefully go some way to showing that there is an acceptance that online gaming can be taken seriously.

[jetset]

Bearing in mind that the stock was three times oversubscribed by institutional investors (they were the market yesterday) and went on at 116p it did very well according to a review late last night:

"Shares in PartyGaming surged to 130.5p to finish 13 per cent above its listing price of 116p, after it completed the biggest London flotation in five years.

"PartyGaming's market capitalisation was about £5.2bn last night, making the eight-year-old company larger than Marks & Spencer, British Airways and Boots by valuation. It is set to gain entry into the FTSE 100 in autumn."

Parasol, Dikshit et al did rather well out of it:

"Anurag Dikshit, its reclusive operations director, sold £365 million of shares, and has a stake worth £1.6 billion. Thirty eight year old Ruth Parasol, the brainchild behind the company, collected £189 million from selling shares and has a stake in the business worth £832 million. Vikrant Bhargava, PartyGaming's marketing director, sold £103 million of shares and has a stake worth £468 million.

"Richard Segal, the chief executive who sold £9 million of shares in the float and has options over a tranche worth £42 million, said investors had given the company's future a ringing endorsement."

Spear have you tried Charles Schwartz for purchasing - they're big online in the brokerage field and although based in the States do global deals.

[Simmo!]

Originally Posted by jetset

"Anurag Dikshit, its reclusive operations director, sold £365 million of shares, and has a stake worth £1.6 billion. Thirty eight year old Ruth Parasol, the brainchild behind the company, collected £189 million from selling shares and has a stake in the business worth £832 million. Vikrant Bhargava, PartyGaming's marketing director, sold £103 million of shares and has a stake worth £468 million.

Truly frightening.