Baazov continues Amaya sell-off with £161m trade
Former CEO drops stake in PokerStars-owner from 12% to 3.8%
David Baazov is no longer the largest individual Amaya shareholder after the former CEO sold off another chunk of his stake in Amaya for £161m on Thursday.
Baazov, who is due to stand trial for insider trading charges in November, sold 12 million common shares in the company at C$22.31 a share.
The deal takes Baazov’s stake in the company from 12% to 3.8%, down from a high of 17% at the start of March, with the exec netting around £242m from the sell-off.
Baazov said the sale was conducted for “investment purposes”, but the deal adds to the growing distance between Amaya and its former CEO since his latest failed takeover attempt in December.
The PokerStars owner said last week it would be changing its corporate name in the summer, in a move which some analysts suggested was designed to “leave behind the tarnished Amaya brand following the resignation of David Baazov and the ongoing AMF investigation”.
It also agreed recently to a debt refinancing agreement that allowed lenders to trigger a default should Baazov take control of the company.
Amaya stock closed Thursday up 2.5% at C$22.89 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.