Racing consortium makes Tote bid - govt spokesman

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Thu Sep 27, 2007 6:32 PM BST139

LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A racing industry consortium has made a bid for Britain's state-owned bookmaker, the Tote, a government spokeman said on Thursday.

"We have received an offer and are seeing if it meets the terms of the sale," the spokesman said.

Having pledged to sell the Tote to the racing industry in 2001, the government is negotiating its sale to the consortium that includes Tote management, the Race Course Association and the Racehorse Owners Association.

Media reports say that turbulent credit market conditions have put pressure on the consortium's orginal highly leveraged 400 million pound ($791 million) plus bid, reported to be backed by the private equity arm of Lloyds TSB.

The Labour government attempted a sale in 2005 but it was blocked by the European Commission, which said the price was so low that it constituted state aid.

Following the Commission ruling, the government had the Tote valued by PricewaterhouseCoopers at a reported price of about 400 million pounds and invited offers.

The government and the consortium have been wrangling for months. Changes in the leadership of the ruling Labour party have held up the process, while the government has voiced objections about the level of funding provided by Lloyds and its level of control on the proposed Tote board.

The Tote was set up in 1928 and comprises 540 high street betting shops, 59 betting shops on race courses and Britain's pool betting system.

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=mergersNews&storyID=2007-09-27T173207Z_01_L27915777_RTRIDST_0_BRITAIN-TOTE-BID.XML

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Tote从2001年就开始准备卖掉，到现在还没卖掉，要在中国早贱价卖给私人了。世界上最成功的国有转私营的国家就是英国。明摆的榜样摆在那里，却不学，害得我们的国有资产大量流失，造就了大批不义富人。

Coral Eurobet年初曾经开家405百万英镑，但是英国体育传播文化部一直没有决定到底卖给谁。2005年工党政府准备卖的，但是欧盟委员会认为开价过低。

Tote不支持NETELLER、Moneybookers等第三方支付方式，所以很遗憾，世界上很多地区的玩家不能玩。信用卡是其主要的存取款方式。