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Churchill Downs to Buy Youbet.com for $126.4 Mil

(Reuters) - Racetrack operator Churchill Downs Inc (CHDN.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed to buy Youbet.com Inc (UBET.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in a deal valued at $126.4 million in a bid to attract more online customers to horse racing.

The cash-and-stock deal values Youbet at about $2.86 a share, a premium of 19 percent over its Wednesday close of $2.41.

The deal, which is expected to close within the first half of 2010, will result in annualized cost savings of about $10 million, Churchill Downs said in a statement.

As part of the deal, shareholders of Youbet, which lets people bet on horse racing, would receive 0.0598 of Churchill Downs common stock and 97 cents in cash for each share owned.

Churchill Downs owns horse racing tracks in Florida, Illinois, Kentucky and Louisiana that host such high-profile races as the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, the Arlington Million, the Princess Rooney Handicap and the Louisiana Derby.

Shares of Youbet rose 8 percent to $2.61 after the bell. Churchill Downs shares closed at $31.57 Wednesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)

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