{"id":168105,"date":"2021-03-22T09:11:21","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T16:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=168105"},"modified":"2021-03-22T11:40:15","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T18:40:15","slug":"hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"HBK Europe Contesting Caesars William Hill Takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alternative investment firm HBK Europe Management, LLP plans to contest Caesars Entertainment’s (NASDAQ:CZR) proposed $3.69 billion takeover of William Hill (OTC:WIMHY). They will do so on the basis that vital information wasn’t fully disclosed to investors in the British bookmaker.<\/p>\n

\"HBK
A William Hill betting shop in London, pictured above. HBK Europe is urging investors to vote against Caesars’ takeover. (Image: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Las Vegas-based gaming company made its offer for the sportsbook operator last September,<\/a> and it was quickly approved by the target’s board. The transaction is slated to close in the second quarter, but HBK will argue against the deal at March 31 UK Scheme Court hearing.<\/p>\n

“Our opposition is based upon our strongly held belief that shareholders voting on the Scheme did so without information which would have allowed them to weigh up its true merits,\u201d said HBK in a letter to William Hill shareholders. \u201cIn particular, it is our view that the terms of the joint venture agreement entered into between William Hill and Eldorado (now Caesars) dated 6 September 2018 were not adequately disclosed by William Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sportsbook operator acknowledges receipt of the letter from the investor, but maintains Caesars’ $3.69 billion all-cash offer \u201cis in the best interests of all shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Root of HBK Consternation<\/h2>\n

The money manager’s qualms with the casino company and sportsbook operator stem from what HBK claims is a lack of transparency regarding a list of potential buyers for William Hill that the US company could deem \u201crestricted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHBK discovered that, in reality, Caesars\u2019 ability to restrict counterbidders is significantly more limited than this,\u201d <\/strong>said the asset manager in the letter. \u201cOn 19 November 2020, at the EGM\/Court Meeting, William Hill disclosed, after being questioned by HBK at the meeting, that ‘there can be a maximum of six names on this list. Caesars are entitled to substitute one name every six months.’\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

HBK specifically mentions Caesars moving to include private equity firm Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) on the restricted list. Last September, the Harrah’s operator publicly warned William Hill<\/a> against accepting a buyout bid from William Hill, noting it could effectively end the bookmaker’s US agreement with Caesars.<\/p>\n

Apollo is rumored to be a possible suitor for William Hill’s European assets<\/a>, which Caesars indicated it will sell when it completes the takeover. However, the private equity company’s willingness to do business with the casino operator remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Caesars Holds Strong Cards<\/h2>\n

The Flamingo operator has long been in a prime position to acquire William Hill. Eldorado Resorts, the company that acquired \u201cold Caesars,\u201d owns part of the UK-based company and had an agreement with the firm that transferred to any casinos Eldorado purchased.<\/p>\n

\n

Still, some market observers argued last year that Caesars’ $3.69 billion bid undervalues William Hill. It’s less than a prior offer old Caesars made for the company, and with some analysts saying the sportsbook operator’s European unit is worth at least $2 billion, there may be something to the thesis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For its part, HBK believes poison pill provisions were weaponized against William Hill — a rarity in deals involving UK businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a rare occurrence indeed to see a ‘poison-pill’ actually being utilized against a UK company,\u201d said the investor. \u201cAs such, UK shareholders, who are unaccustomed to such mechanisms, deserved and required a fuller explanation of the Restricted Acquirers list and its limitations in order to properly assess how to vote.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

HBK is urging William Hill investors to write to the company and the Scheme Court if they believe greater detail on the restricted buyers’ list would have affected their votes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alternative investment firm HBK Europe Management, LLP plans to contest Caesars Entertainment’s (NASDAQ:CZR) proposed $3.69 billion takeover of William Hill (OTC:WIMHY). They will do so on the basis that vital information wasn’t fully disclosed to investors in the British bookmaker. The Las Vegas-based gaming company made its offer for the sportsbook operator last September, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":168106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,32093],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHBK Europe Will Argue Against Caesars Takeover of William Hill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"HBK Europe says investors should ask for more details on restricted list in Caears planned takeover of William Hill.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HBK Europe Will Argue Against Caesars Takeover of William Hill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HBK Europe says investors should ask for more details on restricted list in Caears planned takeover of William Hill.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-22T16:11:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-22T18:40:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WillHill.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/\",\"name\":\"HBK Europe Will Argue Against Caesars Takeover of William Hill\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WillHill.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-22T16:11:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-22T18:40:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"HBK Europe says investors should ask for more details on restricted list in Caears planned takeover of William Hill.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WillHill.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WillHill.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"A William Hill betting shop in London. HBK Europe is urging investors to vote against Caesars takeover. (Image: Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"HBK Europe Contesting Caesars William Hill Takeover\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HBK Europe Will Argue Against Caesars Takeover of William Hill","description":"HBK Europe says investors should ask for more details on restricted list in Caears planned takeover of William Hill.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"HBK Europe Will Argue Against Caesars Takeover of William Hill","og_description":"HBK Europe says investors should ask for more details on restricted list in Caears planned takeover of William Hill.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-03-22T16:11:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-22T18:40:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WillHill.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/","name":"HBK Europe Will Argue Against Caesars Takeover of William Hill","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WillHill.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-22T16:11:21+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-22T18:40:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"HBK Europe says investors should ask for more details on restricted list in Caears planned takeover of William Hill.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WillHill.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WillHill.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"caption":"A William Hill betting shop in London. HBK Europe is urging investors to vote against Caesars takeover. (Image: Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hbk-europe-will-argue-against-caesars-takeover-of-william-hill\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"HBK Europe Contesting Caesars William Hill Takeover"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}