Empire Online - Party Gaming about start a bidding war with Sportingbet?

The respected British newspaper the Financial Times reports that Empire Online may have another suitor.

The report says that Party Gaming is "...believed to have appointed Deutsche Bank to advise it on the potential purchase of Empire Online. "

PartyGaming (Party Poker, Starluck Casino, Party Bingo) went public on the London exchange earlier this year and rode the crest of investor interest that pushed the online betting group's value to over GBP 6 billion, only to have the shares nosedive 37 percent southward despite good first half results following a comment by CEO Richard Segal that the online poker business was showing signs of a slowdown.

Empire has acknowledged that it is currently in talks with UK super betting group Sportingbet about a deal worth GBP 791 million, and there was speculation several days back that Party Gaming executives were considering making an offer for Empire, too.

Empire online enjoyed a successful listing on the London exchange recently and its latest results are good.