The bidding war for Allied Esports Entertainment’s poker assets, including the World Poker Tour, took another twist, as Allied’s board agreed to accept an increased bid from Element Partners and again reject a Bally’s proposal.
Element initially agreed to acquire the assets for a total consideration of $78.3m, which was approved by Allied’s board of directors subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
In early March, Bally’s went on to submit a proposal to acquire the entire Allied business for $100m in cash, stock, or both, in a deal that would terminate the agreement made with Element.
Terms were then agreed last week on an increased offer from Element, which amended its deal to to pay $90.5m upfront for the WPT business and Allied’s other poker assets.
However, Bally’s then increased its bid to $105m in cash for just the poker-related assets, which Allied said was a “superior proposal” to the Element offer.
Element, however, was free to negotiate a new bid by 29 March. Following this new $105m bid, Allied ruled that the Bally’s proposal was no longer “superior”.
The deal is expected to close by the end of next month, provided there is no new bid from Bally’s.