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03.12.2005 The Party Gaming - Empire Online legal confrontation over allegations that the former tried to poach players from the latter in the recent abandonment of former "skins" by Party Poker was the subject of analyst assessments this week.
Experts at Morgan Stanley estimate that Party Gaming might have to cough up a stunning $300 million if the threatened litigation by Empire's Noam Lanir were successful.
The analysts said that their assessment was based on a conventional formula, and opined that: "On a simplistic basis, we assume that the maximum potential liability is the market capitalisation of Empire that was directly eroded as a result of the platform split, plus reputational damage."
The Morgan Stanley document goes on to reveal that following the announcement of the separation of the ‘skins’ Empire’s share price moved from 183p to 121p, and then to 86p following the profit warning on October 18. "The total market capitalisation eroded over the 10 days was about GBP 290 million."
Morgan Stanley notes: "It is clear from (Party Gaming) statements that it is a risk that Party takes seriously, and we cannot rule out a material adverse effect from the impending litigation."
Legal sources seemed to take a contradictory view, saying that GBP 300 million might be "...as good a place to start as any", but was not necessarily a definitive number, which might be difficult to legally establish, especially in the areas of reputational damage and the judge's finding on what was "directly eroded". Party Gaming would likely contest any litigation fiercely, the sources added.
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