Rank boss: Hills takeover attempt demonstrates our confidence
CEO Henry Birch says he was "very surprised" by William Hill's rejection but believes The Rank Group will remain active in industry M&A
The Rank Group’s takeover bid for William Hill shows the Mecca Bingo-owner has both the “confidence and creativity” to make its mark in ongoing industry consolidation, according to the firm’s CEO Henry Birch.
In an exclusive interview with eGaming Review yesterday, Birch expressed his disappointment the ambitious joint-offer with 888 had failed to come off but said he was still keen for Rank to get involved in M&A activity.
“We’ve got strong organic strategy but we also feel that there are, and will be in the future, opportunities to consolidate in the industry,” he told EGR.
“I think to some extent we’ve put our head above the parapet with this William Hill offer and it’s shown to people we’ve got the confidence and creativity to get more engaged.”
Rank and 888 Holdings officially ended their interest in William Hill last week after “it had not been possible to meaningfully engage” with its board to discuss merging the three operators.
William Hill, which had previously swatted away two takeover proposals from the two-operator consortium, said it would instead continue to focus on its online turnaround strategy.
However, Birch, who was in line to head-up the enlarged firm, said he was shocked Hills did not share the same vision as Rank and 888 regarding the merger.
“We thought there was an extremely strong opportunity there with William Hill and 888 and we were very surprised William Hill didn’t feel the same way,” he said.
Yesterday The Rank Group reported an 11% rise in full-year online revenues with strong growth from Grosvenor Casinos offsetting a “disappointing digital performance” by Mecca Bingo.
The operator’s share price was up 1.84% to 221.80p on the London Stock Exchange at the time of writing.