Amaya's ex-CEO ends talks to buy company

(Reuters) - Amaya Inc's founder David Baazov said on Tuesday he had ended talks to buy the Canadian online gambling company because some shareholders were demanding a higher premium. Amaya's U.S.-listed shares fell about 3 percent to$14 in premarket trading on Tuesday. Baazov, Amaya's former chief executive, offered to buy the company in mid-November in a deal valued at about $4.1 billion. Including debt and transaction costs, the deal was for $6.7 billion. Baazov in late November said he would seek new funding for the portion of the offer he was financing along with a consortium of investors after KBC Aldini Capital denied its involvement in the deal. KBC was one of four investors named by Baazov as his backers. The others were the Head & Shoulders Global Investment Fund, Hong Kong-based Goldenway Capital and Ferdyne Advisory, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands. Baazov and the four funds were to have financed $3.65 billion of the deal. Amaya, which owns gambling websites PokerStars and Full Tilt, said in February it had received a non-binding proposal from Baazov to take the company private for C$21 per share ($15.66). Baazov, who owns 17 percent of Amaya, increased his offer to C24 per share in November. (Reporting by Vishaka George in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Martina D'Couto)