GVC makes improved proposal to Bwin

(ShareCast News) - GVC Holdings has begun talks with larger competitor Bwin.party over a new, fully-funded takeover proposal at 125.5p per share, with reports claiming its equity placing to raise cash for the deal was oversubscribed. Bwin.party quickly responded that it was "working closely" with AIM-listed GVC but stated its recent recommendation of a rival bid by 888 Holdings was "unchanged" - although that may change in the coming days.While it emphasised that there was no certainty that a full offer will be made by GVC, Bwin.party said it was discussing the proposed deal with its advisers "with a view to progressing certain aspects of the GVC proposal to enable that proposal to be evaluated fully by the Bwin.party board".The new GVC deal will offer, in exchange for each Bwin share, 25p in cash and 0.231 new GVC ordinary shares, which based on the closing price of GVC shares on 6 August of 435p, would represent a value of approximately 125.5p per Bwin.party share.GVC said it anticipated that the discussion with Bwin and its advisers "should conclude within the next 5-10 business days".Shares in GVC were up 0.5% to 437p and Bwin up 0.6% to 117p by 11:00 on Friday.