GOOD NEWS FOR BOSS MEDIA SHAREHOLDERS

8 February 2008

Share price soars 25 percent on back of acquisition moves by GTech


Shareholders in the Swedish online gambling turnkey provider Boss Media will be rubbing their hands with glee this weekend at the news that their holdings have soared 25 percent in value. The reason? GTech subsidiary GEMed has made a bid for the Stockholm-listed firm at SEK19 a share, valuing the company at SEK1 billion (Euro 105.6 million) and driving the share price up to SEK19.

GEMed AB, is a company jointly owned by GTECH (87.5 percent) and Medströms (12.5 percent)

Boss Media directors released the background to the potential deal in a statement as the week drew to a close, revealing that towards the end of 2007, Boss was approached by a number of parties that indicated an interest to acquire the company (see previous InfoPowa reports).

Based on this serious interest Boss Media directors retained an adviser and established a process granting access to a limited number of parties to conduct a limited due diligence process as well as meet with the management in Boss Media.

GTECH agreed to participate in this process and has subsequently submitted an offer from GEMed prior to the deadline set by the Board.

Boss Media directors are being advised by HDR Partners in the process and will, among other things, await a fairness opinion from this adviser prior to deciding on whether to recommend, or not recommend, the shareholders of Boss Media to accept the offer from GEMed.

The GEMed offer represents a premium of 30 percent compared to the average closing price of the Boss Media share on OMX during the last 10 trading days and 37 percent on a cash and debt free basis (enterprise value).

Boss Media's largest shareholder Medströms is part of the GEMed bid and will tender its shares in Boss Media (12.5 percent of capital and votes) in the offer.

The acceptance period is expected to commence on 7 February 2008 and end on 27 February 2008. The cash settlement is expected to commence on 6 March 2008.

GTECH CEO Jaymin B. Patel said "The acquisition of Boss Media is an important element of GTECH's growth strategy. At the same time, we view ourselves as being the perfect partner for Boss Media accelerating the roll-out of their cutting edge systems for internet based gaming, as we can offer a global market presence and a customer base consisting of a significant portion of Boss Media's targeted leads."

CFO of Medströms Jan Westholm said "When combined with GTECH, Boss Media will be afforded access to WLA customers in all parts of the world, which we believe will facilitate a faster roll-out of Boss Media's products and services on a global scale. Medströms participated in the founding of Boss Media in 1997, and has been supporting the Company as a large shareholder since that time. We view this transaction as the optimal way forward for Boss Media, and we want to continue to contribute to the future growth of Boss Media in a privately-held environment."

UPDATE: Later in the week, Boss director Meg Tiveus let it be known that two other offers were being considered, setting the scene for a bidding war to acquire the turnkey provider, which has valuable business connections with international state gambling monopolies.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa