It has been reported that gaming giant Betfair is set to press ahead with a £1.5 billion stock market flotation
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The online betting exchange is expected to make an announcement on its plans for an initial public offering within a fortnight, according to the Sunday Times newspaper.
It has been speculated for some time that Betfair was planning to list on the stock market, and the group is expected to earn a place in the FTSE 250 if the move goes ahead.
But a number of companies have struggled with flotations this year, with online grocery firm Ocado seeing its share price dive following its stock market debut, despite slashing the price of the shares for the initial public offering.
Betfair, which is being advised by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, is understood to have not yet finalized the price at which it would offer its shares. The biggest beneficiaries of a flotation would be the group's founders, Bertie Black and former City trader Ed Wray, who launched it 11 years ago and own a combined 24% of the firm.
Japanese bank Softbank is understood to be the next biggest shareholder with a 23% stake, which it acquired for £355 million in 2006.
The rest of the equity is thought to be owned by the group's management, including chief executive David Yu, and the firm's staff, as well as a number of private investors who backed the business in its early days.
A Betfair spokeswoman declined to comment on the speculation. The firm is said to have considered a listing before, but plans were put on hold in 2005 as it reportedly wanted to wait until after the previous World Cup -- which is always a mammoth event for gaming firms.
Betfair claims to be Europe's largest online sports betting operator, with 2.5 million registered users. It acts as a betting exchange, matching individual betters to each other. Users can choose the odds at which they want to place a bet, while they can also bet both that an outcome will happen and that it will not happen.
The group is licensed to operate in the UK, Australia, Malta, Italy, Austria and Germany, and is understood to be keen to expand further overseas. Last year it acquired TVG, a US television channel that shows horse racing, for £35 million. Betfair's latest set of annual results show the group grew underlying earnings by 29% to £72 million in the year to April 30, 2009.
(UKPA)