Paddy Power Betfair merger approved by shareholders
At meetings held Monday morning 99% of shareholders at both firms vote in favour of the deal
The mega-merger between Paddy Power and Betfair moved another step closer to completion on Monday after shareholders at both firms comprehensively approved the deal.
At separate meetings held in the morning, 99% of investors at both Paddy Power and Betfair approved the merger, which is on track to complete in Q1 2016.
The merger still needs to be approved by the court and the Consumer and Competition Protection Commission, but was given the green light by the Competition Markets Authority last week.
Shareholder approval comes after it was revealed both operators would make significant cuts to their combined workforce in order to achieve half of planned £50m cost synergies.
According to a shareholder circular, £25m would be saved by reducing headcount, with the other half coming from non-payroll efficiencies in IT, property, services and marketing.
The news comes shortly after shareholders approved GVC Holding’s £1.2bn takeover of bwin.party, while the CMA also announced it had begun its fast-track probe into the Ladbrokes Gala Coral merger.
Paddy Power’s share price was down 0.19% to 122.77 while Betfair’s was up 0.03% to 3,864p at the time of writing.