Will Caesars Interactive Entertainment be sold?

Shares in Caesars Acquisition Company rose 9 percent after hours Friday following a Wall Street Journal report that successful online subsidiary Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) had been the subject of several acquisition bids, and that the parent group was considering its position.

The report claimed that CIE is working with investment bank Raine Group LLC to evaluate unsolicited bids that have exceeded $4 billion, according to insider sources. The would-be suitors included financial firms and gaming, media and entertainment companies, one claimed.

CIE chief executive Mitch Garber said in an interview. “We want to hear what people have to say, for sure.”

CIE is one of the largest online, mobile and social-gaming companies, with annual sales of nearly $800 million. It notched year-over-year revenue growth of 28.8 percent in the first quarter, out-performing other divisions in the parent group, the WSJ notes.

CIE is active in social gaming, real-money online gambling and operates the World Series of Poker brand.

Profitable units within CIE include games developer Playtika, acquired for $100 million in 2011 (see previous reports) and active in the social gaming space, which Garber revealed generates revenues through virtual sales in games from around 4 percent of over 22 million users.

But the sale of such a successful subsidiary as CIE could introduce more tension between heavily debt-burdened Caesars Entertainment and a complicated array of associates, which has filed for bankruptcy protection, and its frustrated and unhappy creditors, the Journal observes.

The WSJ report reveals that the unidentified would-be acquirers of CIE are mainly interested in the mobile side of the business.