NOT A FIRE SALE AS e-CASH PROCESSOR SELLS REMAINING 25 PERCENT TO OPTIMAL
FireOne to become a wholly owned subsidiary for GBP 32.4 million
The Montreal-based payment processing provider Optimal Group Inc., has bought the remaining 25 percent of FireOne Group plc that it didn't yet own, reports Bloombergs.
Optimal agreed to buy the remaining quarter of FireOne Group Plc 18 months after it sold shares in the subsidiary. The 60 pence-a-share offer, which values FireOne at about GBP 32.4 million ($63.5 million), is 12 percent more than FireOne's closing price yesterday, Dublin-based FireOne revealed in statement.
Bloombergs reports that FireOne shares lost a quarter of their value on October 10 after the company said it would stop processing U.S. transactions following a new law aimed at banning Internet gambling financial transactions in the U.S.
The independent directors at Optimal said in a statement that they believe that FireOne's future as an independently listed entity is uncertain. On news of the purchase FireOne's stock price escalated almost 10 percent, a welcome change for investors who saw their shares slump almost 80 percent since the initial share sale in June 2005.
Optimal, which owns 74.2 percent of FireOne, said the "synergies and benefits of scale'' of an acquisition would help improve the company's performance.
The acquisition is subject to approval by FireOne shareholders
FireOne to become a wholly owned subsidiary for GBP 32.4 million
The Montreal-based payment processing provider Optimal Group Inc., has bought the remaining 25 percent of FireOne Group plc that it didn't yet own, reports Bloombergs.
Optimal agreed to buy the remaining quarter of FireOne Group Plc 18 months after it sold shares in the subsidiary. The 60 pence-a-share offer, which values FireOne at about GBP 32.4 million ($63.5 million), is 12 percent more than FireOne's closing price yesterday, Dublin-based FireOne revealed in statement.
Bloombergs reports that FireOne shares lost a quarter of their value on October 10 after the company said it would stop processing U.S. transactions following a new law aimed at banning Internet gambling financial transactions in the U.S.
The independent directors at Optimal said in a statement that they believe that FireOne's future as an independently listed entity is uncertain. On news of the purchase FireOne's stock price escalated almost 10 percent, a welcome change for investors who saw their shares slump almost 80 percent since the initial share sale in June 2005.
Optimal, which owns 74.2 percent of FireOne, said the "synergies and benefits of scale'' of an acquisition would help improve the company's performance.
The acquisition is subject to approval by FireOne shareholders
