David Baazov's Amaya Takeover Bid Hits the Skids

Former Amyaya CEO David Baazov shocked the poker world when he restated his intention to try to take the company back into private ownership just over a week ago. It now looks like that particular ship may have sailed after news leaked that one of the firms Baazov had claimed was part of the lenders from who he had secured $3.65bn to help finance the deal have no idea who either he, or Amaya are.

Dubai based company KBC Aldini Capital''s CEO Kalani Lal told Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper that there had been no negotiations with Baazov whatsoever and that he had never even heard of Amaya.

KBC was one of the four investment companies who Baazov had told the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had agreed to help finance his takeover bid. KBC have since filed a complaint with the SEC.

According to CardsChat.com, since the news broke, the share price of Amaya has dropped by 7%.

It was always going to be a long shot for Baazov to pull this deal off, especially as he's still under investigation from Quebec's financial securities regulator, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) on securities fraud charges.

Given his track record it should come as no surprise that in the wake of these latest developments that it appears that Baazov is being investigated by law firm Brock and Leviton for “potential securities fraud or manipulation claims" with the firm wishing to speak to anyone who bought Amaya stock after Baazov's bid on November 14th when the share value of Amaya spiked.