* CEO David Baazov offers C$21/shr
* Offer at 40 pct premium to Friday close
* Amaya valued at about C$2.8 bln, based on basic shares
* Shares up 27 pct in morning trading
(Adds analyst's comment; Updates shares)
By Amrutha Gayathri
Feb 1 (Reuters) - Canada's Amaya Inc AYA.TO AYA.O ,
operator of online gambling website PokerStars, said it received
a non-binding proposal from Chief Executive David Baazov to take
the company private.
Amaya's shares were up about 27 percent at C$19.15 in
morning trading in Toronto, but were still below Baazov's
proposed offer of about C$21 per share.
The company's stock has more than halved in value in the
past 12 months due to scrutiny of daily fantasy sports in the
United States, delay in the launch of a sports-betting platform
and legal worries.
However, the company could receive a major revenue boost if
U.S. states such as California legalize online gambling over the
next couple of years, Global Maxfin Capital analyst Manish Grigo
said.
The proposal values Amaya at C$4.39 billion ($3.13 billion)
on a fully diluted share basis as of Sept. 30.
Based on Amaya's basic share count, the proposed offer
values the company at about C$2.8 billion, representing a
premium of about 40 percent to the stock's Friday close on the
Toronto Stock Exchange.
Grigo said Baazov could recover his investment over a period
of time as a big portion of the revenue in the online gaming
industry falls straight to the bottom line.
It was not immediately clear how Baazov, who currently owns
about 18.6 percent of Amaya's outstanding common shares, would
be financing the deal.
Baazov was among the executives who were investigated in
June by Quebec's securities regulator for trading in Amaya's
stock ahead of the company's $4.9 billion takeover of PokerStars
owner Rational Group in 2014.
Blackstone (N:BX) Group LP's BX.N credit division, GSO Capital
Partners, was one of the main investors in the Rational deal.
Montreal-based Amaya warned in November that its 2015 profit
would be hurt by a strong U.S. dollar and the delay in the
launch of its sportsbook.
The profit warning followed the company's decision to limit
its DFS brand StarsDraft from operating real money games and
tournaments in most U.S. states.
Federal and state authorities have been investigating
whether DFS gaming is legal under gambling laws.
In December, a Kentucky court ordered the company to pay
$870 million in penalties to cover alleged losses by the state's
residents who played real-money poker on PokerStars' website
between 2006 and 2011.
Amaya's U.S.-listed shares were also up about 27 percent at
$13.43 on Nasdaq.
($1 = 1.4025 Canadian dollars)