PartyGaming sticks on price

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By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 22nd June 2005 14:46 GMT

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Online poker site PartyGaming looks like it has convinced the City that pricing for next week's IPO is reasonable, despite worries about US lawmakers spoiling the fun.

PartyGaming is the largest poker site and is floating on the London Stock Exchange next week. Someone "close to the company" told the FT yesterday that the firm had fully covered the order book at a price of between £4.4bn and £5bn, or 111p to 127p per share.

Some investors were expected to avoid the investment because of uncertainty over US regulations. The US takes a Puritanical view of gambling and its laws have not yet caught up with the internet.

As a result of these worries the company restricted its road show to the UK and Europe. The FT reports that three out of ten top funds have "made firm orders" for PartyGaming shares.

One fund manager, speaking anonymously told the Reg: "The excess liquidity that has been pumped into the system by all the central banks means that everyone is desperate to find a decent return at any cost - if you are brave, stupid or both you could make money from this. Question is who will blink first."®