It was reported that 888 an online casino and a poker company that operates under the management of two Israel brothers Aaron and Avi Shaked gave out a total believed to be nearly $1.4 billion to Bwin. However, 888 has recently faced a stiff competition from GVC Holdings Plc. an online betting company that has risen the bid of acquiring the Bwin.party Digital entertainment to $1.55 billion.

Bwin who allegedly puts itself on sale last year was first involved in a deal with 888 online casino and betting firm who gave out 900 million pounds to acquire Bwin’s stock at the beginning of the month.

This deal was placed in the M&A activity in the market and this is expected to be a routine as various companies tend to expand themselves as a way to increase their chances of funding their technology and markets.

GVC has overdone 88 as the firm offers 122.5 pence each share from which 25p would be in cash form while the rest would be in GVC shares. This surpasses 888”s offer of 104.09 pence by a stunning 18%.

Reports from Bwin claimed that they were putting into consideration the new offer that was tabled by GVC and would make an official statement soon. Its selling comes after it was evident that there was a great decline in the regulated poker markets based in Europe. The company was initiated when online poker group PartyGaming and sports betting group Bwin merged in 2011.

Analysts at Panmure Gordon claimed that it would preferably for GVC to acquire the firm as stakeholders of GVC will have a 10% premium and this would be more than that offered by 888. GVC on the other hand claimed that it would push for the deal following its loan acquisition of 400-million-euro ($440 million) from Cerberus Capital together with its fresh incorporated shares. It also has a backing of Amaya Inc. its partner based in Canada which would give in 908 million pounds towards the deal.

Moreover, an additional 150 million pounds would be raised via its equity placing to an endowment reformation costs and refund the existing debt of Bwin.party. Despite it being a third of market value in comparison to Bwin, GVC believes that its cost benefits would raise up to 135 million every year come 2017. During the London Stock Exchange markets, Bwin’s share rose up by 2.3% to record at 111.1 pence while that of GVC decreased by 0.5%.

Investors to Bwin.Party Stinson Ridge and Emerald Bay are working on preparations to sell as much as shares amounting to 50 million in the FTSE; London for the online gambling provider. This share sale by these investors will take up a 6% stake at the company.

This news on the investors’ sale will see bwin.party share price fall 11p to 94p. Bwin.Party board in a statement said that they were not part of the sales bargain but these actions by Emerald Bay and Stinson Ridge were at par with the plans brought out by the firm in October 2013.

Bwin.party said that this sale would not make any impacts on the ongoing sale discussions going on with 888 Holdings and joint partnerships with GVC Holings and Amaya Inc.

The Chairman to Bwin.Party; Phillip Yea said that they were happy with the news of the sale and this announcement by the trustees since it will show clarity for the market and show a significant block of shares which were expected to be sold in 2015.

This sale announcement might have come at a strange time but this is at par with the agreement that was signed in October 2013 that allowed the sale of the shares before October 2015. This raises curiosity as it was done at a time when the group is active in talks with suitors. The trustees are not part of the discussions but one thing could be that they were approached by one of the suitors. Another reason could be that an investor has a positive view on a likely outcome of the talks and made an approach to the trustees. A final thought to the move can be that the trustees saw a risk reward to the situation and thought it wise to balance things down with the sale.

The view with many is that a bid is likely to the outcome. A lot of this will depend on the scale of the synergies and the execution risk related to the bidders on the deal. On this deal, it might be possible to see 130p or more but a more cautious stance might be seen on the limited upside.