The Asia-facing online gambling group AsianLogic plc, which was accepted on to the London AIM stock exchange at the end of 2007, plans to delist as soon as it has the approval of 75 percent of its shareholders, the company announced this week.
The company has already secured irrevocable undertakings from shareholders representing 63.67 percent of the issued capital of the company to vote in favour of the proposal, the Proactive Investor website reports.
AsianLogic listed on AIM in December 2007 after successfully raising GBP 40.7 million net of proceeds through placing 48.5 million shares at 111.6 pence per share. At the close of trade yesterday the company’s shares were trading at 22.5 pence.
The company owns and operates online casinos and poker rooms plus additional sports book venues through the Mega Sports World brand.
A company statement said that the delisting decision had been taken due to low trading volumes in the shares, and that it hopes to complete the delisting by July 3rd 2009.
The company is offering to buy its shares back at 25p, an 11.1 percent premium on the current price, and is budgeting almost GBP 17 million to effect this.
“The market is not reflecting the value in the company or the growth opportunities it will enjoy as it refocuses on higher margin business and deposit accounts,” a company spokesman said. “The first year of trading was positive but 2008 proved difficult.
“The board and management of Asian Logic are offering shareholders the possibility of enjoying the future growth of the company, but if [they] don’t want to carry over into the private company, they are still getting a premium on the shares.”