If there is one thing the market can be sure of out of the bidding war for gambling giant Tatts Group, it is that the value of the company's wagering division is in dispute.
And according to some in the market, the only way to determine how much it is really worth, would be to put the division up for auction.
The under pressure wagering division, which had revenue of $610 million in 2015-16, is valued at between $1 and $1.60 a share in the bid by Macquarie Capital's Pacific Consortium - which includes private equity firm KKR, Morgan Stanley's infrastructure wing and local superannuation investor First State Super.
But some analysts count it in their numbers with a value as low as 55¢ a share.
Although the valuation ascribed in the Macquarie bid might be ambitious, the thinking is that it underlines that in the original bid Tabcorp is getting the gaming and wagering business too cheaply - at a very low 5-times EBITDA, after $130 million in synergies have been accounted for in fact.
British bookmakers would be key tyre-kicking candidates and could enjoy their own EBITDA synergies of up to $90 million, according to analysts.
