One portfolio manager says he wouldn’t buy shares in Amaya again in wake of the Canadian online gambling company’s ongoing “issues.”

The pledge from David Taylor, president and chief investment officer of Taylor Asset Management, comes a day after Amaya Founder and former CEO David Baazov confirmed he doesn’t have the backing of KBC Aldini Capital to help him finance a US$6.7-billion takeover offer for the company.

Baazov said the purported letter saying the Dubai-based firm backed the bid wasn’t from them and was delivered without KBC’s knowledge. Still, Baazov said he will continue pursuing a takeover of the company he once owned without the firm’s backing.

“It sure is a lot of noise,” Taylor said of the controversy surrounding Amaya on BNN Thursday.

Taylor said he owned the stock at 50 cents years ago when he worked at Dynamic and that the firm later sold the position when Amaya traded around $3.50.

“It scares the daylights out of me now,” he said.  

“There were some things when I owned the stock that made me uneasy,” he added. “As I said, I would never touch it again. I had the opportunity to buy it back when I left [investment firm Dynamic Funds] but I never did because some of the things made me a little queasy – just some of the actions by the CEO."

Maher Yaghi, vice-president and analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets, echoed Taylor’s sentiments about Amaya.

“I have been in this business 16, 17 years -- I have never seen something like that,” Yaghi told BNN in an interview. “It’s quite complicated. At the end of the day, as an analyst or as an investor, you have to put aside these supposed bids until they become really official.”

Baazov has long stirred controversy with the company. In March, Quebec’s securities regulator filed five charges against him, alleging he engaged in market manipulation of the stock price. Baazov has pled not guilty to all charges.