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  Unibet and Sportingbet have ceased merger talks. Both companies announced earlier this week that negotiations between the two have officially come to an end. Word of the companies' potential business deal cropped up on Sunday via a report in London's Sundays Times. The article did not provide many details but it did say that there were still "lots of hoops to go through" before an agreement could be made.
On Monday, Sportingbet officials broke their silence saying, "The Company confirms that it has had and will continue to have discussions with different parties in relation to a variety of potential opportunities. There can be no certainty as to whether or not such discussions will result in any form of transaction. Any further announcement will be made if and when appropriate."
The following day appeared to be the appropriate time, Sportingbet confirmed that it had been in discussions with Unibet but that those talks have now come to an end saying, "The Board of Sportingbet Plc notes continuing press speculation following an article which specifically referred to merger discussions with Unibet Group Plc, a company listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm. Unibet informed the Company today that it has withdrawn from those talks."
Shortly thereafter Unibet also released a statement saying simply, "Preliminary discussions with Sportingbet are no longer ongoing."
A merger between the two companies would have been significant since both are major players in the global betting market. Unibet's stock jumped on the initial news of the potential merger but it dropped back down shortly after news of the failed talks was released.
Sportingbet in the meantime has announced a new joint venture with Russian bookmaker, First International Bookmakers Company (FIBC). For the next five years Sportingbet and FIBC will work together to run a Russian online sports betting site entitled, "Liga Stavok powered by Sportingbet." Liga Stavok competes is the exclusive betting partner of the Russian Football Premier League so the site should become a huge success.
As always stay tuned to Casinofan for more news and updates.
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