The much anticipated merger between online gambling and sports betting giants bwin and PartyGaming is almost finalized. On the 31st of March the newly created super-company which will be known under the name bwin.party Digital Entertainment plc, will become the largest online gambling venture in the world.

Bwin's shares are currently listed on the Vienna stock exchange, but due to administrative reasons the trading of them will be halted on the 25th of March. On the 31st of March the shares will be removed from the list.

On the 1st of April people and organizations owning bwin shares will receive 12.23 bwin.party depositary interests for each single share they have in their possession. These interests will become tradable on the London Stock Exchange under the name BPTY.L.

The two companies announced their intention to merge in July last year. In December they issued a 478 page long document to their shareholders explain each detail and outline the merging procedures. Shareholders in an extraordinary meeting in January 2011 unanimously accepted the deal.

The new company will be jointly run by the two current executives of bwin and PartyGaming, Norbert Teufelberger respectively Jim Ryan. bwin will keep its headquarters in Austria while PartyGaming will continue providing its services from Gibraltar.

Party Gaming Chief Executive Jim Ryan commented the following:

"As our merger with bwin is set to complete on March 31, 2011, we are finalizing our plans to integrate both businesses as quickly as possible and remain confident about delivering the cost and revenue synergies we have already identified in line with the previously announced timetable, with the full €55 million per annum being delivered by 2013. We plan to provide a further update on our progress at the time of the half year results in August 2011."

Bwin CEO Teufelberger added:

"Our many years of online know-how, healthy balance sheet, and one of the largest pools of poker liquidity in any regulated market will make us an attractive business partner."

It's expected the merger will result in additional expansions for both parts of the company. The current strength of both companies lies in the business-to-customer sector, but the financial gains of the merger would make it possible for bwin.party to also move into the business-to-business and business-to-government sector.

Tags: bwin, PartyGaming, bwin.party