THEY might not be quite in the league of Roman Abramovich - Pounds 7.4 billion richer after yesterday's Sibneft share sale - but two pairs of Israeli brothers have cleaned up to the tune of more than Pounds 530 million with the float of 888.com.
The online casino group called the bluff of pessimistic market punters predicting the end of the cyber gambling craze and went ahead with today's float.
At 175p a share - toward the bottom end of what its financial advisers had indicated to the City - 888 is valued at Pounds 590 million.
In brisk early trading the shares leapt 5% before settling at 178p. A recent trading alert from Party-Gaming, the biggest player in the online gambling market, sent its shares tumbling 35% amid fears that the peak growth in internet punting has passed.
The 888 float lands a massive gamble for its founders. Today they sold 25% of the company to a range of London and European financial institutions.
Israeli dentist Aharon Shaked had the idea for an online casino - 888 specialises in roulette and blackjack rather than PartyGaming's forte, which is hosting poker rooms - when he visited Monte Carlo for the first time in the mid-1990s. Ahead of the float he and his brother Avi, and the Shaked family trusts, owned 70% of 888. Today's listing sees them raise more than Pounds 100 million in cash and retain a shareholding worth more than Pounds 310 million.
When developing 888, the Shakeds brought in technology whiz-kid brothers Ron and Shay Ben-Yitzhak - Shay, 36, is 888's chief technology officer. The Ben Yitzhaks and their family trusts held 20%. They have cashed in shares worth around Pounds 30 million and retain a Pounds 90 million stake.
The Gibraltar-based company is run by chief executive John Anderson, a 56-year-old former director of the Ladbrokes betting shops chain. "We have a clear strategy to become the market leader in the online gaming industry," he said today.
The float of 888 comes during a bumper time for the London Stock Exchange.
The FTSE 100 index pushed above 5500 today while latest figures reveal that main market floats in the past five months have more than trebled to 84.
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