Investment firm denies backing Baazov's Amaya bid

Dubai investment firm KBC Aldini has denied any knowledge of David Baazov’s £3bn all-cash bid to take Amaya private, despite being named as one of the deal’s backers by Baazov himself.

KBC was listed as one of four companies who had made a financial commitment to the takeover bid in official papers filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

However, KBC chief executive Kalani M. Lal told Canada’s Globe & Mail newspaper on Tuesday that he had never heard of Amaya and KBC was not involved in the transaction in any way.

Lal added that KBC had already filed a complaint with the SEC about KBC’s name being “used fraudulently”.

Amaya said Wednesday morning it was aware of the report and would continue to assess Baazov’s proposal, but had no further comment.

KBC had not responded to EGR’s request for comment at the time of publication.

Stanley Choi, chairman of the Head and Shoulders Financial Group, which was also named as a backer, confirmed to EGR that it was working with Baazov on the deal.

The original bid announcement saw Amaya’s share price jump around 18%, while KBC’s comments saw it drop down 6% on Tuesday, taking it almost back to the pre-bid level following a previous decline this week.

The share price movement and the ongoing investigation into David Baazov for insider trading, had some speculating that the initial bid was an attempt to manipulate stock price.

Baazov currently owns, or has options for, 17% of the shares in Amaya.