Partygaming just bought Multipoker

[berz]

LONDON (Reuters) - Online poker operation PartyGaming said on Friday it was taking over two of its four partners and ending its relationship with a third.

Analysts said that was further bad news for Empire Online (EOL.L), the fourth partner, which PartyGaming is also in talks to buy.

PartyGaming said it had agreed to pay $14.5 million (8.3 million pounds) for Multipoker and was buying most of IntertopsPoker.

A third partner, Coral Eurobet, is due to leave PartyGaming's online poker platform, migrating its players to a new platform over the next few weeks, it added.

Players on PartyGaming's four partner sites, known as "skins", can compete with each other in the online poker room, but the loss of players from IntertopsPoker, Multipoker and Coral Eurobet leaves those of Empire Online on their own.

This represents a 40 percent reduction in the number of players, analysts said, raising the risk that Empire will lose its players as they follow the herd.

"PartyGaming is using this to further squeeze down the price it pays for Empire -- that's if it bothers at all," said Robin Chhabra at Evolution Securities.

"They're just deciding now if they're going to squeeze it and then buy it, or just kill it," he added.

PartyGaming shares were up 0.3 percent to 92 pence by 8:40 a.m., valuing the group at around 3.7 billion pounds. Empire's shares were up 1.7 percent to 89-1/2 pence.