When will Israeli online gambling operator Cassava Enterprises carry out its enormous issue? If you ask the employees of Random Logic, a software company registered in Israel, they’ll answer, “By the end of the year,” because that’s what Random Logic CEO Shai Ben Yitzhak told them in Cinema City two weeks ago. If you ask "The Independent" reporter Rachel Stevenson, she’ll say that the company’s road show in London is expected to begin in only two weeks, and that the issue will therefore take place towards the end of September. On the other hand, if you ask "Financial Times" reporter Matthew Garrahan, he’ll tell you that Cassaava’s IPO on the main London Stock Exchange will take place next week.
A “Financial Times” report this morning said that Cassava was expected to carry out its issue next week on Thursday, September 1. Sources close to the issue told the newspaper that Cassava would go public at a value of over £700 million ($1.3 billion). The “Financial Times” added that Cassava’s annual profit totaled £100 million ($180 million). The newspaper said that no response to the report was forthcoming from the company.
Whether or not the “Financial Times” report is accurate, it can be stated with certainty that Cassava’s IPO is growing nigh, and will take place in a few weeks at most. Cassava’s issue is almost perfectly timed. The prices of online gaming shares traded on the British capital market are soaring, and the window of opportunity opened a few months for issues of these companies is still wide open.
Cassava was founded seven years ago by two pairs of brothers: Avi and Ahron Shaked and Shai and Ron Ben Yitzhak. The company operates a number of gambling websites, including 888.com, Pacific Poker, Reef Club Casino, and Casino-on-Net. It is considered the world’s largest online casino operator, on the basis of the number of those visiting its sites, while PartyGaming, which operates the world’s largest online poker website, estimates Cassava’s market share in online poker at 6%, putting Cassava in fourth place in the world.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on August 24, 2005