The board of GVC has rejected media assumptions that an inquiry into its past Turkish operations is associated with the controversy involving the struggling payment provider Wirecard.
A report in The Times proposed this link, through Kalixa, a payment processor that GVC sold after acquiring bwin.party in June 2017.
Singapore-based payments company Senjō Group agreed to purchase the business for €29 million in December 2016.
However, GVC strongly refuted these claims, asserting that the inquiry by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) relates to a former external payment service provider.
In a statement, GVC declared: “The board can confirm that it has no proof to suggest that the HMRC investigation has any connection to the payment service provider mentioned in the newspaper articles.”
It added that the company is fully collaborating with the investigation and will inform the market in due time.
The Times article observed that the alleged connection “is a hypothesis and has been presented by investors who may hold short positions in GVC stock.”
The British tax agency, HMRC, initially concentrated its examination on these outside firms. However, GVC declared on July 21 that the tax division had expanded its inquiry to include an investigation into “possible corporate wrongdoing” of the operator under Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010. At that time, the company stated it was unclear which subsidiaries were being reviewed and it had not been informed of the exact nature of the investigation.
The operator noted that the unnamed payment providers’ only connection to GVC was through providing services to its Turkish-facing business, which was sold to Ropso Malta in November 2017 after the company agreed to acquire Ladbrokes Coral Group. GVC later abandoned its agreed €150 million profit in February 2018.
Last July, GVC publicly denied that it was still profiting from the divested Turkish business, again responding to media speculation.
The operator added: “As reported on July 16, 2020, GVC continues to perform well and looks forward to sharing more details on its interim financial performance on August 13, 2020.” “GVC remains focused on markets where it is nationally regulated and licensed, with 96% of its revenue coming from these markets.”
GVC Holdings shares dropped 3.14% to 691.60 pence in London on Thursday (July 30).
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