888 and Rank team-up for ?3bn William Hill bid
Two firms poised to make consortium offer to acquire bookmaking giant
William Hill is the target of a ?3bn consortium takeover bid involving 888 Holdings and The Rank Group.
Following a story in the Sunday Times regarding a potential merger between 888 and Rank, Rank and 888 released a joint-statement on Sunday afternoon in which it said the two firms had discussed a joint-bid for William Hill, who sacked its CEO James Henderson on Thursday.
While no official bid has been made by the pair, it is believed an offer could be tabled as early as next week, even though the UK takeover code states the consortium would have until 5pm on 21 August to make an official move.
“888 Holdings and The Rank Group (together the “Consortium”) note the recent press speculation regarding a potential transaction involving William Hill and confirm that they are evaluating a possible offer for William Hill,” the joint-statement read.
“The Consortium sees significant industrial logic in the combination, through consolidation of their complementary online and land-based operations, delivery of substantial revenue and cost synergies and from the anticipated benefits of economies of scale which will accrue to all shareholders.
“No formal approach has yet been made to the Board of William Hill and there can be no certainty that any such approach will be made. Accordingly, there can be no certainty that any transaction will ultimately take place, nor as to the terms on which any such transaction might be constituted.”
William Hill responded with a statement of its own on Monday morning in which it questioned the rationale of a three-way merger but said it was prepared to listen to the consortium’s offer.
A takeover of William Hill involving 888 would come just 18 months after the firm had itself tried to buy 888 in a ?750m deal and would reflect the current trajectory of both firms.
Meanwhile, Rank is led by two former senior William Hill staffers in the shape of current CEO Henry Birch and group director Colin Cole-Johnson, who were Online CEO and egaming director at Hills, respectively.
Speaking to EGR on Thursday, William Hill interim CEO Philip Bowcock refuted the suggestion Henderson had been sacked due to a lack of City confidence and ability to pull off a major M&A deal.
Bowcock said the firm had no need to add any further scale with the operator still number two both online and in retail despite recent and upcoming mergers involving rivals.