IAS Becomes Part of Paddy Power
A meeting of shareholders in betting company International All Sports yesterday approved a takeover offer from rival Sportsbet and its majority owner, Ireland's Paddy Power. The 60 cents a share offer values the corporate bookmaker at $40 million. IAS majority shareholder, Mark Read, who founded the company in 1996, yesterday criticised another rival, Centrebet, for being ‘cheapskate,' after it had made a $22 million bid for IAS in February.
IAS will no longer trade on the Australian Stock Exchange as a result of the acquisition.
Yesterday, shareholders voted overwhelmingly to take the money on offer from the Paddy Power offshoot.
As chairman and former Northern Territory politician Barry Coulter told the meeting: ''As a fellow that earned a living talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time as a politician for 16 years, these are figures I never dreamt of. The best I ever achieved was 78 per cent. But the number in favour of this resolution was in fact 98.62 per cent.''
Gambling911.com Staff
