31st Mar 2011 08:35
31 March 2011
PartyGaming Plc, now known as bwin.party digital entertainment plc
('bwin.party' or the 'Company')
Completion of the Merger
The process of merging PartyGaming Plc and bwin Interactive Entertainment AG ('bwin') has been completed today. The Company has formally re-registered its name as 'bwin.party digital entertainment plc'.
The Company's ordinary shares of 0.015 pence each ("Shares") have today been de-listed and re-admitted to the premium segment of the official list and commenced dealing on the London Stock Exchange's main market. A total of 439,209,325 new Shares have today been issued in the form of dematerialised depositary interests and credited in CREST for onward transfer to the relevant securities accounts of former bwin shareholders no later than 1 April 2011. As a result of this issue of new Shares, the Company now has 852,271,026 Shares in issue.
The new London Stock Exchange 'ticker' for the Shares is 'BPTY'. The ISIN number for the Shares remains G1000A0MV757, whilst the SEDOL number has changed to B53TNH6. The London Stock Exchange will show the Company's new name of 'bwin.party digital entertainment plc' on its trading system from 1 April 2011.
As a result of the merger completing, the following appointments to the Company's board of directors have taken effect from today:
·; Simon Duffy, Non-Executive Chairman of the Board
·; Norbert Teufelberger, Co-Chief Executive Officer
·; Joachim Baca, Chief Operating Officer
·; Per Afrell, Independent Non-Executive Director
·; Manfred Bodner, Non-Executive Director
·; Helmut Kern, Independent Non-Executive Director
·; Georg Riedl, Non-Executive Director
Biographies for each of these directors are set out in the Company's prospectus and circular published on 23 December 2010 and available on bwin.party's website, http://www.bwinparty.com/. There are no disclosures to be made under Listing Rule 9.6.13 in respect of any of the new directors other than those set out in the Company's prospectus and circular to shareholders published on 23 December 2010.
Commenting on the completion of the merger, Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger, the Co-CEOs, said:
"We are delighted that our merger is now complete so that we can start with the integration of our businesses and capturing the synergies we have already identified. As we make the transition from unregulated to regulated markets we have an excellent opportunity to capitalise on our market-leading positions in sports betting, poker, casino and games as well as bingo."
Simon Duffy, the newly appointed Chairman of the Board, commented:
"Congratulations to bwin.party's directors and employees on managing the merger through to completion. This is a landmark day for the online gaming sector and bwin.party is now in a position to leverage its combined resources to take maximum advantage of regulating markets and the exciting opportunities in the real money gaming and digital entertainment sectors."
Contacts:
bwin.party digital entertainment plc
Investors
Peter Reynolds +44 (0) 20 7337 0100
Konrad Sveceny +43 664 847 6671
Media
John Shepherd +44 (0) 20 7337 0100
Matthias Winkler +43 664 305 0000
Deutsche Bank
(Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker) +44 (0) 20 7545 8000
Alastair Mathieson, James Cass
Charles Wilkinson, Mumtaz Naseem (Corporate Broking)
Appendix
Following the above-noted appointments to the Board, the composition of the Company's board of directors is as follows:
Name of Director | Board Position | Board Committee Membership |
Simon Duffy | Chairman of the Board | Nominations Committee (Chairman) , Integration Committee |
Jim Ryan | Co-Chief Executive Officer | Nominations Committee, Integration Committee |
Norbert Teufelberger | Co-Chief Executive Officer | Nominations Committee, Integration Committee |
Joachim Baca | Chief Operating Officer | - |
Martin Weigold | Chief Financial Officer | - |
Rod Perry | Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director | Remuneration Committee (Chairman), Audit Committee, Nominations Committee, Integration Committee |
Per Afrell | Independent Non-Executive Director | Ethics Committee, Nominations Committee, Remuneration Committee |
Manfred Bodner | Non-Executive Director | Integration Committee (Chairman), Nominations Committee |
Tim Bristow | Independent Non-Executive Director | Ethics Committee (Chairman), Audit Committee, Nominations Committee |
Helmut Kern | Independent Non-Executive Director | Audit Committee (Chairman), Ethics Committee, Remuneration Committee, Nominations Committee |
Rami Lerner | Non-Executive Director | - |
Lord Moonie | Independent Non-Executive Director | Ethics Committee, Nominations Committee, Remuneration Committee |
Georg Riedl | Non-Executive Director | Nominations Committee |
Related Shares:
BPTY.L