Less than two weeks after bwin.party board recommended a £898m offer from 888 Holdings to buy the company, the online operator has confirmed it has received a rival proposal from GVC Holdings worth around £1bn.

GVC and bwin.party

In separate statements issued this morning, both bwin.party and GVC confirmed an “indicative proposal” worth 122.5p per bwin.party share, comprising up to 25p in cash and the balance in new GVC shares.

The 888 bid is valued at 104.09p per bwin.party share, comprising 39.45p a share in cash plus 0.404 new 888 shares for each bwin.party share, valuing the deal at £898.3m.

The GVC proposal is backed by Cerberus Capital Management.