Allied Esports International nears sale of pokers business, WPT to Element Partners LLC.

Allied Esports International nears sale of pokers business, WPT to Element Partners LLC.

Allied Esports International Incorporated has announced this week the signing of a revised arrangement to sell the entirety of its poker-related operations to Element Partners LLC.

 

Allied Esports-Element Partners Deal

Under the terms of the agreement, Element Partners LLC will immediately send $90.5 million in cash to Allied Esports International Incorporated for the acquisition of equity in its Club Services Incorporated subsidiary.

Club Services operates all of Allied Esports’ poker-related businesses, including the World Poker Tour (WPT) gaming and entertainment brand.

Element Partners LLC, a newly-formed business entity, made an initial attempt to acquire the poker business of Allied Esports last January when the group placed a $78.25 million offer on the table. However, the selling company reconsidered the deal last week after receiving a $90 million bid from American land-based casino giant Bally’s Corporation.

Bally’s Corporation’s offer gained ‘superior proposal’ status, forcing Element Partners LLC to come up with a counteroffer before the afternoon of March 19 or lose its battle to acquire over the business entity that operates the WPT and its accompanying ClubWPT.com membership domain.

Allied Esports International revealed that its board of directors has now unanimously approved the revised agreement from Element Partners LLC after the buyer lodged an improved purchased offer.

Technically, Bally’s Corporation and other interested parties can still put up an offer for the poker side of its business but the seller would need to pay a $3.45 million termination fee should it ‘accept a competing acquisition proposal or consummates an acquisition proposal within twelve months after termination of the revised stock purchase agreement.’

Allied Esports International Incorporated expects to close the sale of its Club Services Incorporated subordinate to Element Partners LLC tentatively in late April so long as the sale secures approval from shareholders and meets the ‘required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Allied Esports International Incorporated also revealed that the revised arrangement with Element Partners LLC still opens the door for either party to scrap the proposed purchase agreement at any time between now and the end of September if ‘conditions to the closing have not been satisfied so long as the ‘terminating party is not in material breach of the revised stock purchase agreement.’

WPT chapter with Allied Esports comes to close

Allied Esports International Incorporated has owned and operated the iconic WPT brand since June of 2015. American attorney and television producer Steven Lipscomb s established WPT 20 years ago and it has grown into an international brand that has spawned countless events and tournaments over the years.

Despite its success with its poker business and the WPT brand, it deems necessary for the operator to offload its poker interests in order to focus more on its estate of eSports venues including a 30,000 sq ft arena located inside the 30-story Luxor Las Vegas property from MGM Resorts International.

About Lou De Aguila

Lou Aguila is a news and feature writer for Golden Casino News. For over a decade, Lou has published news and featured articles for some of the most reputable sports betting and online casino sites in the world, including BetNow.UK, VegasOdds, and BWin. Apart from being a hardcore live casino punter, he also covers sports stories in North American leagues from time to time.