David Baazov to Make All-Cash offer for Poker Giant Amaya Inc.

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On Monday, the poker giant Amaya Inc. announced that the CEO David Baaznov has plans on purchasing the company and taking full ownership. The company owns PokerStars and Full Tilt, among other entities that have made a global entity with the card game. The plan that Baaznov has is to buy more shares in the company and become the majority holder. For this, he has partnered with a group of investors who have a proposal of C$21, roughly $15US, per share; which would be worth upwards of $2.4 billion.

Baaznov already owns around 18.6% of the company, with his 24.6 million shares in Amaya, with options to buy 550,000 more. The Rational Group, the previous owners of the two poker sites, was bought by Amaya two years ago for $4.9 billion. On top of the price tag, they also have extensive plans to expand into launching an online casino and sportsbook, as well as increasing their market share in Daily Fantasy Sports. They have also started implementing a new VIP system for the PokerStars website.

Amaya confirmed this news,

“It has received a non-binding indication from its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, David Baazov, that he intends to make an all-cash proposal to acquire Amaya at a price currently estimated by Mr. Baazov to be C$21.00 per common share. However, as of the time of this release, the special committee has neither received nor solicited a formal bid or offer related to a potential transaction and there can be no assurance that Mr. Baazov’s intention will result in a formal bid or offer or that any such bid or offer will ultimately result in a completed transaction.”

This could be a positive move for the company, as well as the community in general, as the acquisition in 2014 was thanks to a debt-backed operation, which the company still has to pay off. Amaya is doing amazing and pay this debt back, but would focus on making payments rather than looking to the future. Being able to invest more into innovating and expanding will help the brand grow, seeing as how they already have a foothold on the poker market.