888 in “advanced” talks with Caesars over William Hill non-US sale

888 is in “advanced” discussions with Caesars Entertainment over the acquisition of William Hill’s non-US assets. The London-listed operator issued a new statement today to address reports that it had won the race to acquire the assets ahead of US-based private equity firm Apollo Global Management. “There can be no certainty that these advanced discussions will result in a transaction,” said 888. “A further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.” The Times suggests 888’s winning bid was somewhere in the region of £2bn. The assets include William Hill International, Mr Green and the firm’s UK retail portfolio, which 888 could either keep or offload to land-based operators like Betfred should the deal go through as expected. EGR has confirmed that Apollo Global Management is out of discussions over the sale, paving the way for 888 to complete the deal with Caesars. Peel Hunt analyst Ivor Jones said: “Our initial back-of-the-envelope calculations show that such a deal would create a materially larger business, relevant to many more investors, with a period of synergy extraction ahead to offset any negative regulatory changes, particularly in the UK. “If 888 is about to execute its first material M&A for many years, it comes with execution risks, but we would expect management to make a good case for enhancing the online business and extracting at least marketing value from retail,” he added. Elsewhere, 888 has announced the launch of its newly created Sports Illustrated (SI) sportsbook in the US state of Colorado ahead of the forthcoming NFL season. Bettors in the Centennial State will now be able to access the SI Sportsbook, which has been in development since 888 and Sports Illustrated partnered up in June. As part of the integration, 888 has said it will provide “unique and differentiated” tools to bettors. This involves including a multi-sport Pick ‘em game, betting widgets, betting education tools and so-called intelligent hyperlinking, which automatically inserts live odds into sports media content and links directly to the sportsbook. Other states targeted with the new SI Sportsbook include New Jersey, Iowa and Indiana, with 888 committing to launching the brand in two to three states per year. 888 SVP and head of US Yaniv Sherman said: “By partnering with Sports Illustrated, we have created a strong platform that enables us to build our US position through Sports Illustrated’s extensive brand footprint. “This provides an opportunity to cost-effectively acquire customers and build a profitable business over time. “We look forward to introducing SI Sportsbook to sports fans across Colorado and are excited to continue its rollout into new states in the coming months,” he added.