GVC raises bid to £1bn for gaming firm Bwin

The stakes have been raised in the bidding war for the gaming firm Bwin.party.

GVC Holdings has raised its takeover bid to about £1bn, topping an offer from 888 Holdings.

888 bid £898m for the firm earlier this month, an offer Bwin accepted.

GVC said it was "working on finalising" its bid, which Bwin said would be considered by its board, although it cautioned "there can be no certainty that an offer will be made by GVC".

GVC's offer is worth 122.5 pence per share, which will be made up of 25 pence in cash and 1 new GVC share.

The 888 deal valued Bwin shares at 104.09p each. This latest move comes less than six months after 888 rejected a takeover bid from William Hill, which valued it at about £750m.

Online gambling companies are merging to try and reduce operating costs as they are exposed to stricter regulation.

"This is a real statement of intent from GVC. The proposed premium over the accepted offer by 888 is such that the bwin.party board will probably have no choice but to reconsider its acceptance of the 888 offer," analysts at Davy Research said.

"We would be surprised if 888 does not come back with a counter-offer of its own."