PartyGaming shares swelled yesterday after the company achieved the biggest London flotation in five years. Its market value is now about £5 billion ($9.1-billion U.S.).
Initially, PartyGaming priced its shares at £1.16 each, giving a market value of £4.6-billion and guaranteeing a place in the FT-SE 100-stock index of blue-chip British companies. Amazingly, the stock traded at heights of £1.325 and trading closed 11 per cent higher at £1.29.
Chief executive officer Richard Segal said the group would target Europe and Australia as its main areas for growth, with Asia a 'medium-plus-term' target.
'The reason why we're poker focused is that the group has had extraordinary success there...as a result of that, our other products, casino and bingo, have been to a degree neglected,' he said.
