Former Amaya CEO Liquidates Company Shares

Amaya Gaming’s former CEO David Baazov has some new walking around money after selling nearly one-third of his stake in the online gambling company.

On Tuesday, Baazov (pictured) announced that he’d sold 7m Amaya common shares at C$19 apiece for a total consideration of C$133m (US $99m). The sale represents about 4.8% of the company’s outstanding common shares and about 30% of Baazov’s holdings in Amaya, the parent company of online poker giant PokerStars. Baazov still controls roughly 17.6m Amaya shares, equal to 12.1% of the company.

The market applauded the move, pushing Amaya’s stock price up 5.8% to C$20.06, the highest point the shares have traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange this year.

The sale came just days after Amaya announced that it had refinanced its long-term debt, a deal that included a requirement that the debt would become payable ahead of schedule if “a certain current shareholder” made further attempts to acquire the company. The poison pill was inserted “at the request of certain lenders.”

More at Calvin Ayre