David Baazov, president and chief executive officer of gaming company Amaya, looks on prior to their annual general meeting in Montreal, June 22, 2015.© Christinne Muschi / Reuters/Reuters
The credit arm of U.S private equity giant Blackstone Group LP has boosted its ownership stake in Amaya Inc., the online-poker company whose chief executive officer wants to take it private.
GSO Capital Partners LP said that a group of funds that are either managed or advised by it have acquired 11 million common shares of Montreal-based Amaya in an exercise of warrants on 11 million Amaya shares acquired by GSO Funds in 2014. The price paid was 1 cent a share.
GSO Capital Partners said the funds acquired the shares "for investment purposes and to enable GSO to exercise voting rights attached to such common shares, including in connection with any transaction or other matter submitted for shareholder approval."
David Baazov, who is taking an indefinite paid leave of absence as Amaya's chairman and chief executive officer, is seeking to put together a deal to take the business private in an all-cash $2.8-billion transaction.
Last month, he stepped back from his duties at Amaya in a bid to "avoid the distraction" of illegal insider-trading charges laid against him and others by Quebec's securities watchdog and to focus on his plans to take the company – owner of the popular PokerStars brand – private.
Mr. Baazov remains on the board, which has appointed its lead independent director, Dave Gadhia, as interim chairman. Rafi Ashkenazi, the CEO of Amaya's operating business – Rational Group – is interim CEO of the company.
GSO Funds will have beneficial ownership of 20 per cent of Amaya's common shares with the exercise of the warrants, according to a news release filed last Friday.
Blackstone was a key financial backer of Amaya's surprise $4.9-billion (U.S.) takeover of PokerStars' parent company, Oldford Group Ltd. in 2014.
Mr. Baazov has denied any wrongdoing in the insider-trading allegations levelled by the Autorité des marchés financiers in March in connection with the Oldford and other deals. None of the allegations have been proven.
The AMF filed 23 charges in a probe into Amaya's takeover of Oldford. The agency identified about $20-million (Canadian) worth of trades in its insider-trading case, according to information made public by a Quebec court in early January.
Mr. Baazov faces five charges "for aiding with trades while in possession of privileged information, influencing or attempting to influence the market price of the securities of Amaya Inc., and communicating privileged information," according to the AMF.
Among others charged with insider trading are Benjamim Ahdoot, a childhood of Mr. Baazov, and Yoel Altman, an adviser to Amaya.
In a separate development, Amaya spokesman Eric Hollreiser said on Monday that the company's annual shareholders' meeting has been pushed back to June 28 from June 9.
"Yes, we have rescheduled the shareholders' meeting, as we have done in years' past," Mr. Hollreiser said in an e-mail response to a request for confirmation of the change. "This will give us more time to prepare."
With files from reporter Nicolas Van Praet in Montreal