Group Bernard Tapie moves to assuage fears on FTP Acquisition

Did the Matt Glantz report rattle some cages?

The timing is suspicious - on Monday Groupe Bernard Tapie lawyer Behnam Dayanim became publicly active again, using his favourite Poker Strategy information site as a megaphone to assure interested parties that the FTP deal is still alive and well and progressing.

Suspicious, because it came on the heels of three days of growing publicity for a candid and negative assessment of the prospects for the deal by poker professional Matt Glantz on his Card Player blog (see previous Online Casino Guide reports).

Glantz used his connections to conduct private conversations with various players involved in the Full Tilt Poker debacle, and then wrote about his conclusions.

Dayanim, having previously said that outstanding debts by a number of poker pros could stall the deal, now says a successful conclusion is “very close”.

The GBT lawyer claimed to Poker Strategy that progress has been made, and he illustrated this by revealing that the parties have agreed to an extended deadline past the end of February in order to continue the negotiation and presumably due diligence process.

Dayanim appears confident that a deal will be clinched over the next few weeks.

“Positive progress has been made in recent talks, and each of the parties feels reasonably confident that we’ll be able to reach a successful conclusion,” he said. “As such, everyone has agreed to let the process continue for a bit longer.”

The allegedly indebted pro players continue to present a problem it appears - Dayanim said talks with these individuals are continuing and, while some players have been working with them for a solution, others remain “recalcitrant.”  He did not detail who the latter were.