LONDON -- The details have London buzzing: a mysterious Indian IT graduate set to make a massive fortune on a game made trendy by Hollywood celebrities, and a porn entrepreneur who started it all.
The financial district is eagerly awaiting the flotation of on-line poker group PartyGaming PLC, expected today on the London Stock Exchange, which may net its four owners about $2-billion and value the company at about $9-billion.
The owners plan sell to about 20 per cent of the company in the offering, which is expected to earn 33-year-old computer programmer Anurag Dikshit up to $865-million. His remaining 31.6-per-cent stake could be worth up to $2.9-billion.
Company co-founder and former Californian porn businesswoman Ruth Parasol, who commissioned Mr. Dikshit to write the software, and her husband Russ DeLeon are expected to earn $406-million each from the IPO if the shares hit their expected price range of £1.11 to £1.27 ($2.31 U.S.).
In a city where glamorous executives of publicly listed companies boast about their yachts anchored in the south of France and holiday homes on of Mustique, Mr. Dikshit the latest addition to this elite set, keeps a low profile.
Very little is known about him other than he is married to a doctor, has one child and lives in Gibraltar. He is said to be a vegetarian and graduated from the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. His college friend and fellow co-founder Vikrant Bhargava, is the group marketing director, has 9-per-cent ownership and stands to pocket $224-million.
The group's 33-page prospectus states: "U.S. Department of Justice considers that companies offering on-line gaming to U.S. residents are in violation of existing U.S. federal laws," such as the 1961 Wire Act. It adds that some U.S. banks have begun to block credit card payments to on-line gambling sites after pressure from New York State Attorney-General Eliot Spitzer.
"They are certainly not being coy but up-front to investors looking to buy shares. But what is surprising is the sheer number of risks," said Paul Telford, a litigation lawyer specializing in on-line gambling at Allen & Overy.
Those potential risks may be one reason that no big U.S. investment bank would touch the offering, which is being led by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. The promoting banks are telling investors the company, which also offers bingo and casino games, is expected to make $500-million this year.
