Quote:
Originally Posted by Monorail
Would not be all that surprised to see NJDGE put a hold on the conditional licensing they extended if this bid progresses much further. They may also privately be fuming after putting in tens of thousands of man-hours carefully vetting the application only to have the entire chessboard upended just months after they issued their report. There's nothing impermissible about Amaya or Baazov engaging in these types of company actions...it's just not great from an optics perspective and won't win them any points with NJ.
Regulators in NJ have not shown any inclination toward that kind of pettiness.
The chessboard isn't upended - all of the IOM leg work is still valid, all of the technical work is still valid.
Now, going private could = more investigations and trigger more delays, and it may have broader implications for licensing in other states, but I don't think it has much of an impact on NJ (unless the DGE has issues with some of the new buyers).
Quote:
Originally Posted by SootedPowa
I am no expert but it seems to me Amaya are operating illegally in Russia, Australia and Poland as well as some significantly grey markets like Canada. There must be some bearing of that on this news today?
Maybe? But lots of public companies are active in these and similar markets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SootedPowa
The comments about grey markets like Canada and Russia are significant. A lot less scrutiny on a private company in that respect.
Not really sure about this. Scrutiny kicks in at the regulatory level for all operators.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MicroRoller
If that's the play, it's incredibly risky. You lose almost all credibility if you load the gun with that bullet and don't fire.
Quote:
Originally Posted by that_pope
Where is he getting this money? This doesn't make sense. Amaya had to borrow a ton of money to buy Pokerstars initially. Now he has enough cash to take over the entire company? Hopefully player funds are still segregated...
Must be a large group of investors, but why couldn't he do this initially when purchasing Pokerstars?
Because they thought there was more value in taking it public?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monorail
I'd imagine the original lenders involved in the Stars acquisition would also be involved in some form or another with any new loan.
Hard to see any of this moving forward without them on board.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtyMcFly
The AmayaStars story is such a crazy soap opera that I wouldn't be massively surprised if Mark Scheinberg is coming back to take Baazov's job in season 3.
That is important context here. The story so far has been so nuts as to skew the range of possible outcomes at this point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by incrowd
"From all angles, that looks like a bargain, especially since the consensus 12-month target price is C$34.78, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg"
http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/arti...rom-ceo-baazos
The company value is about to go dramatically higher once New Jersey operations start. The stock is extremely undervalued. Baazov is looking to buy and double his money within the year.
There isn't a mystery here. Baazov is extremely optimistic about the company and wants to buy all or as much of it as he can while the stock is way undervalued.
I agree with the last line but not the ones that precede it.
Analyst targets are meaningless, that group 100% blew the AYA call since acquisition. It may be a bargain, but not because of the consensus target. If that makes stocks a bargain, you should start buying a lot of stuff, right now.
NJ operations won't be material and are almost certainly priced in. They may be over-priced in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrFan
Looks like Baazov is under real pressure to come up with something before the EOY results come out. Seems like he has to be making noise of some sort to keep himself relevant. Share price is coming back quickly. TBH only fools ignorant of Amaya's track record would believe the recent announcement was something to get excited about. Company share price is toast once the results are made public.
Not likely; they already revised down (causing the initial drop in Nov) and they just tipped earnings a week or two ago.
.....
Also: Kentucky is unlikely to resolve anytime soon and will probably be a 7 or 8 fig settlement if there's ever a settlement, not a 9 fig.