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PartyGaming drops as founder sells his remaining stake

Days after PartyGaming revealed it was in talks with other companies in the gaming sector about consolidation, one of its founders has decided to sell his last remaining shares.

Anurag Dikshit is disposing of 38.8m shares held through his Crystal Ventures vehicle, a stake of around 10%. The plan is to sell the shares to institutional investors through an accelerated bookbuild, with traders talking about a price of around 270p which would value the shareholding at around £100m. The news, coming as it does when PartyGaming is in the middle of talks with - it is believed - Austrian rival Bwin, has sent its shares down 17.3p to 276.2p. So far it is the biggest faller in the mid-cap index.

In October Dikshit - who had previously pleaded guilty to an online betting charge in the US and was fined $300m - sold an 18% stake at £188m.

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