Shakeds float online gambling firm 888 on London exchange at value of $1 billion

What a start to the New Year: Several names were added to the list of Israeli millionaires, as 888 Holdings, a Gibraltar-registered Internet gambling company launched and owned by Israelis, raised nearly 148 million pounds on the London Stock Exchange yesterday at a company value of some $1.04 billion.

The company and its shareholders, brothers Avi and Aaron Shaked, and brothers Shay and Ron Ben-Yitzhak, received 175 pence per share, the company said in a statement. The price for 888 Holdings, which is the biggest online casino company in terms of number of visitors, had been nearer the bottom of the postulated range, of 162-212 pence per share. The IPO valued 888 at about 590 million pounds.

The company sold 84.4 million shares, while the Shaked brothers each sold $94 million worth of stock. Pre-IPO they had jointly owned 70 percent of the company's stock, and after, they retain 51.2 percent collectively, or $550 million worth.

The Ben-Yitzhak duo had held 23 percent of the company and sold $63 million worth of stock, leaving themselves with $184 million worth, or 17.1 percent of the firm.

Another major shareholder is Ofer Lazovski, a senior manager at subsidiary Random Logic, who sold $5.1 million worth of shares at the initial public offering. He still owns $15 million worth of stock.

HSBC managed the sale and has an over-allotment option to expand the offering by 12.7 million shares.

888's flotation in London comes just four months after Israeli Noam Lanir launched his company, Empire Online, which markets online gambling sites, at a market value of $920 million, and Partygaming launched its shares on the LSE, too, at a company value of $8.4 billion.

888 was established eight years ago and runs such online gambling sites as 888.com, casino-on-net.com and reefclubcasino.com. Its poker site, pacificpoker.com, is the fourth largest in the world. 888 employs 790 workers across the world, in Gibraltar, Antigua, Israel and London. Some 320 are employed in Tel Aviv at its subsidiary Random Logic, which provides the software for its casino trading.

Others who will welcome in the New Year 5766 with the knowledge of joining the millionaires' club include 888 CEO John Andersen, who sold $3.1 million of shares in the offering; Yarden Rosenberg who sold $3 million; and Michael Palman who pocketed $2.6 million.

The shares will start trading on October 4.

	Delighted shareholders and management of 888 yesterday.