Betting: Bwin.party brand bought by British group GVC for €1.44bn

The online betting brand Bwin.party, based in Gibraltar, has been sold to the British group GVC, based on the Isle of Man, for a total of £1.06bn (€1.44bn), announced the two companies on 04/09/2015. The Bwin group owns both the bwin.fr and partypoker.fr brands, while GVC owns brands such as SportingBet, Betboo and Casino Club.

The offer from GVC canceled a previous merger agreement with 888 Holdings. Bwin had accepted an offer from 888 Holdings of £900m (€1.231bn) for the company, but rejected it, preferring a more complex but more valuable arrangement with GVC. Bwin had been up for sale since November 2014. The company ended many partnerships in football, namely with Manchester United FC (Premier League), Olympique de Marseille (Ligue 1) and Juventus (Serie A) at the end of the 2014-15 season. Bwin will remain a sponsor of Real Madrid CF (Liga BBVA) for the 2015-16 season.

The online betting sector is currently consolidating, with the announced merger of the British firms Ladbrokes and Coral, as well as the agreement in principle of a merger between the Irish company Paddy Power…