GVC Holdings is to acquire Bwin.party Digital Entertainment for about £1.12 billion pounds (€1.5 billion) in cash and shares, winning a four-month battle with 888 Holdings to acquire the online gaming company.

Bwin.party investors will receive 129.64 pence a share based on Thursday’s closing price, Isle of Man-based GVC said in a statement Friday.

Bwin.party, shares of which rose to 115.20 pence yesterday, withdrew its recommendation for the rival bid from 888 and now supports GVC.

GVC didn’t concede the contest even after Bwin.party agreed in July to a lower bid from 888 that it favoured because it said it was more certain.

The battle over the Gibraltar-based company began in May and is the latest in a series of combinations in the gaming industry driven both by the growth of the sector and increased regulation as governments raise taxes and seek to reduce crime.

Each Bwin.party share would be valued at 25 pence in cash and 0.231 of a GVC share, though shareholders can elect to modify the cash and stock portions of the bid.

Bwin.party chose GVC based on “the consideration being offered, the level, timing and deliverability of the financial synergies to be generated and the enlarged group’s growth strategy in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” chairman Philip Yea said in the statement.

Bwin.party shareholders will own 66.6 per cent of the resulting company, which expects to attain €125 million in synergies.

Bwin.party chief executive officer Norbert Teufelberger will join the board of the new company as a non- executive director.

GVC will fund the cash portion of the bid with as much as €400 million of debt provided by Cerberus, and the company also plans to raise about £150 million through selling shares to institutional investors and GVC directors.

Bloomberg