A couple of months ago, it was a racing certainty that Australian gaming giant, Aristocrat Leisure, would be buying Playtech. And then came the rumours about JKO, the gaming investment consortium headed by former Formula 1 team owner, Eddie Jordan.
Reports in Jordan’s native Ireland suggest that the one-time racer, who thrived on the perception that he was the underdog, has accelerated past his only rival, and tabled an offer of around £3bn (US$4bn), putting his consortium in pole position.
It has also been reported that JKO Play also secured further financial backing from Vikrant Bhargava, co-founder of online casino and poker operator, PartyGaming. It was back in November when Jordan and industry veteran Keith O’Loughlin started showing interest in the Playtech sale, asking the company for more time to put together an offer of their own. A meeting of Playtech shareholders scheduled for February 2nd will examine this latest offer from JKO, together with any resultant counter proposals from Aristocrat.
