PartyGaming shareholders cash in more chips
June 8th, 2006 | Published in Business
The four main PartyGaming shareholders yesterday sold another 200m shares between them, which represented 5% of the company. Interestingly,the company’s founders Ruth Parasol and her husband Russ DeLeon were involved this time, rather than just director Anurag Dikshit and marketing boss, Vikrant Bhargava, both of whom had previously sold some of their stake in the company.
The group apparently tried to sell as much as 8% of the company, but were forced to sell less than that due to market volatility and a lack of interest in the shares. The share price dropped partly due to speculation that the main shareholders will try to sell more of their stake in the near future, although they will need to keep a majority stake until 2010 in order to receive lucrative tax breaks from the authorities in Gibraltar, where the company is based.
None of the four shareholders gave a reason for the sale and the suggestion that possible US legislation on online gambling was behind it were rejected. Their broker claimed that the group were looking for “portfolio diversification”.
