Online gambling firm GVC Holdings has made a new £1 billion approach for rival Bwin.party Digital Entertainment.
AIM-listed GVC, headed by Scottish born chief executive Kenny Alexander, hopes to scupper a recently accepted £900 million offer from 888.
Bwin's board knocked back a £908m package from GVC and its partner, Canadian firm Amaya, as it was concerned about the complicated nature of the deal.
Bwin, which has struggled with the decline of regulated poker markets in Europe, confirmed it has received a new offer from GVC and said it would make an announcement when appropriate.
"Whilst we believe the acquisition of Bwin would add value for GVC shareholders, and for Bwin shareholders represents a 12p (10 per cent premium), in our view over the long term 888 would add more value," analysts at Panmure Gordon wrote in a note.
GVC said it would finance the new deal through a combination of new GVC shares and a €400m senior secured loan from US private equity firm Cerberus Capital.
The company also said it planned to raise about £150m through an equity placing to fund restructuring costs and refinance existing Bwin.party debt.
GVC's offer of 122.5 pence per share, consisting of 25p in cash and the rest in new GVC shares, is 18 per cent higher than 888's offer price of 104.09p.
The firm said the deal would lead to cost benefits of more than €135m per annum by the end of 2017, more than double 888's estimated cost saving.
888 declined to comment on whether it planned to raise its offer, though analysts said they widely expected it to do so.
"This is a real statement of intent from GVC. The proposed premium over the accepted offer by 888 is such that the Bwin.party board will probably have no choice but to reconsider its acceptance of the 888 offer," Davy Research analysts said.
"We would be surprised if 888 does not come back with a counter-offer of its own."
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