Centrebet abandons IAS takeover bid after Sportsbet buys in
The battle of Australia’s big sports bookies is over. Con Kafataris ‘Centrebet’ has formally abandoned its $20million hostile takeover bid for Mark Read’s International All Sports (IAS) Limited after an adverse ruling from the Takeovers Panel.
Centrebet chairman told the Australian Stock Exchange on the 3rd of March that the company was disappointed, but accepted the Panel’s decision.
“Accordingly, as Centrebet is unable to proceed with its Offer, Centrebet advises that it will not proceed any further with its bid.”
IAS chairman, Barry Coulter, was quick to trumpet the target’s satisfaction with the outcome. In a letter to the ASX on the following day he said that the IAS Board was pleased with the decision.
“The Board of IAS is of the view that the market recognises that the Proposal was opportunistic and …significantly undervalued the shares of IAS.”
But it wasn’t just the Takeovers Panel ruling that would have influenced Kafataris to abandon the bid.
Matthew Tripp’s Sportsbet Ltd building a 14.3% stake in IAS would also have been a factor.
The stake was big enough to block Kafataris from reaching 90% of IAS.
This is significant because under ASX rules it is only when a takeover reaches 90% that the remaining shares can be compulsorily acquired and the target consolidated within the bidders own business.
Tripp seems to have spent some millions in buying IAS shares on the market over the past month or so. Indeed the share-buying has pushed IAS price up from around 30c when the takeover was
launched to closer to 40c as this report was being written.
Of course, IAS better than expected financial figures for the latest half year will also be underpinning its recent share price rise.
IAS reported a much improved Net profit before tax of some $3.68 million for the half year ending 30th December 2008, up significantly from just $480,000 in the December half of the 2007.
Turnover was up too, to just under $600million, with results continuing to be held back by a poor performance from IAS European focussed Canbet operation.
Centrebet too, has also recently reported its results to the ASX. It declared a net profit after tax of $5.3 million for the half year ending 31st December 2008, up 18% on the same half in 2007.
Chairman Graham Kelly told the ASX that the company is capitalizing on the de-regulation of the Australian wagering market and also growing Centrebet’s European operations.
“Centrebet achieved 18% growth in online turnover in Australia during the period and, pleasingly, converted that to 23% growth in online revenue at a time when we faced increased from race filed product fees.”
Centre bet has also revealed a new management contract with TABs in Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory for fixed odds betting.
For more information go to
www.centrebet.com.au
www.ias.com.au
www.sportsbet.com.au
www.betsport.com.au
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