Leisure/Hotels

Four Seasons’ board approves take-under

12 Feb 2007

The luxury hotelier s directors blessed a $3.8bn offer from its founder, Bill Gates and Prince Alwaleed. They will pay $82 per share. The offer initially looked fair. But the sector has traded up and Four Seasons hit $84 on Friday. The board should have held out for more.

Jobs altruistic manifesto hides self-interest

7 Feb 2007

Steve Jobs call for the record industry to eliminate digital rights protection would benefit Apple, not the music industry. With Apple facing legal challenges in Europe, his shrewd aboutface casts the firm in a favourable, populist light.

Apple and the Beatles make love

5 Feb 2007

The iPodmaker has put an end to a painful trademark dispute with the Beatles whose music Steve Jobs professes to love. The immaterial pact is good for both parties. But resolving the iPhone dispute with Cisco may take more than amour.

Netflix still has the edge over Blockbuster

31 Jan 2007

The US video rental chain has muscled into the online DVD firm's space and looks to be turning around at last. But the twist does not seem to have damaged the steady, profitable growth of Netflix, whose shares are also more reasonable.

Supercasino brings slice of Vegas to Manchester

30 Jan 2007

Global gaming groups corks will be popping after the UK granted its first "supercasino" licence. In Manchester, the chosen city, less so. The trouble is, noone knows what the impact of the new casino will be other than a big fat profit for the company that runs it.

Meet Sam Zell, the auctioneer

26 Jan 2007

The real estate mogul brilliantly ran the bidding for Equity Office Properties. He scrounged up an extra $2.7bn in 10 weeks for his company. His skills at getting Blackstone and Vornado into a wrestling match would be useful for other American directors to consider.

City banks must stand firm against US gaming probe

22 Jan 2007

US prosecutors are demanding Londonbased advisers hand over confidential client information to help their probe into online gaming firms. The prosecutors have the advisors, who have major US interests, over a barrel. But that's no reason to hang their clients out to dry.

Liverpool bid whips up froth in UK football market

5 Dec 2006

Dubai International s reported price for the Premiership club is less than Man United went for. But that is just the upfront payment. It will also have to help pay for a new stadium. The price for topflight clubs is still high. Only the very rich need apply.

Station Casinos MBO is a bit of theatre

4 Dec 2006

The company s directors are making the right sounds by setting up a special committee and entertaining other offers. But when insiders own more than a quarter of shares, the best outcome for minority investors is a slightly sweeter bid from managers.

What’s pricier than a suite at the Four Seasons?

6 Nov 2006

Buying the company. The $3.7bn founder Sharp, Bill Gates and Prince Alwaleed are paying for the hotel chain is extremely lavish. Yet investors don t seem satisfied. They re betting Sharp will have to pay a conflictofinterest surcharge to go private.

Ladbrokes bet on 888 could pay off

6 Nov 2006

The UK leisure group is hunting for bargains and unlike rival suitor Partygaming, its shares still make for an attractive currency. 888 is hardly cheap, at around £3000 per punter. But with big cost savings and technology to play for, the logic of a deal stacks up.

Online gaming M&A talks bear whiff of desperation

30 Oct 2006

Since the US nixed online gambling, sector consolidation is no longer a case of empirebuilding, but of cutting costs to stay in the game. Take a mooted tieup between Partygaming and 888. A month ago such a deal would have created a £5bn giant. Now it s worth just £1.6bn.

Ferretti’s owners should flip not float

26 Oct 2006

Buyout firms are salivating over the Italian yachtmaker s rapid growth, and bulletproof cachet among the ranks of the uberrich. Ferretti was planning an IPO. But when private equity is probably willing and able to pay more, a secondary sale could make more sense.

Online gaming investors face more short-term pain

20 Oct 2006

Stocks like Partygaming were a punt on US legality. Now they re a bet on nonUS growth and eventual consolidation. That should mean more investors prepared to play. But valuations don t yet reflect the new reality of lower margins and likely tax bills.

Game over for online gambling

2 Oct 2006

Partygaming, 888 and other online gaming groups are closing down their US operations after Congress voted effectively to ban internet bets. Sure, they still have their smaller European and Asian operations. But the big bet has spectacularly failed.

Casino buyers double down

2 Oct 2006

Apollo and TPG ante up for casino operator Harrah s. But this is a risky bet on a firm that s already highly leveraged. While casino operators are no strangers to debt, the Harrah s buyout is worthy of Trump.

Right to IPO won’t be magic bullet for French football

19 Sep 2006

Allowing clubs on the stock exchange is common sense. But only Olympique Lyonnais looks like an attractive proposition. Investment in football has its own, peculiar risks. The game is for privateequity players, rather than for individual investors.

Sportingbet release eases online gaming fears

15 Sep 2006

Whatever Louisiana has against the online gaming group s boss, it didn t impress the NY authorities, who allowed Dicks to return to the UK. This was clearly very different to the wellorchestrated sting that snared Betonsports. For that, the industry will breathe a little easier.

High-rolling foreigners fuel casino consolidation

12 Sep 2006

Overseas gambling groups are snapping up UK casinos ahead of the market's deregulation. The two pureplay operators have already got bids. There's little else to buy. But Rank s casinos are a likely target. And the private equity firms that own Gala must be rubbing their hands.

New betting arrest throws sector into spin

7 Sep 2006

Sportingbet s chairman a nonexec has been detained in the US. Bang goes the theory that rival BetonSports was a lone target. Whether Sportingbet has done wrong is beside the point. While US authorities have an axe to grind against the industry, all bets are off.