{"id":38687,"date":"2016-08-19T15:30:14","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T22:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=38687"},"modified":"2016-08-19T15:37:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T22:37:40","slug":"888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"888-Rank Ditches Pursuit of William Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"888-Rank
888 Chairman, Brian Mattingley and CEO Itai Freiberger. Freiberger said he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d that William Hill did not share the consortium\u2019s vision. (Image: GamingIntelligence.com).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

888 and Rank\u2019s daring bid to acquire William Hill<\/a> has collapsed following the bookmaking giant\u2019s refusal to open negotiations.<\/p>\n

The consortium, formed by 888 and Rank a month ago to propose the \u00a33.4 billion bid, threw in the towel today, after William Hill made it clear it was not for the taking.<\/p>\n

The consortium made two non-binding bids last week, both of which were rejected by the bookmaker as being too low and \u201copportunistic.\u201d It came just weeks after William Hill\u2019s CEO, James Henderson, was ousted by the board following the disappointing results of its digital arm, leaving the company in a vulnerable position.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Itai Frieberger, 888 CEO, said he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d that the board of William Hill did not \u201cshare our vision\u201d of the combined businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that there was compelling industrial logic for the combination of these highly complementary businesses, which in our view would have brought scale, diversification, and strong revenue and cost synergies, from which all shareholders would have benefitted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Transformational Force<\/h2>\n

Rank CEO Henry Birch said: \u201cWe strongly believe that the transaction would have created significant value for all three sets of shareholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe and 888 are grateful for the shareholder support we have received throughout this process,\u201d he added.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The consortium has promised that a combined company would be a \u201ctransformational force\u201d in the global and betting gaming industry and the UK\u2019s largest \u201cmulti-channel gambling operator by revenue and profit.\u201d It predicted revenues of \u00a32.7 billion and cost saving of $100 million per year.<\/p>\n

But William Hill noted that these cost savings would not be achieved until 2020 and, in the meantime, the proposal was too risky, complex and too laden with debt. The deal would have created one of the most highly leveraged gambling companies in Europe, with the combined company taking on some $2.2 billion in debt.<\/p>\n

Rank Outsiders<\/b><\/h2>\n

The bid had proposed that 888 and Rank would first combine before acquiring William Hill. Representatives of the consortium did not say whether this planned merger would still go ahead.<\/p>\n

William Hill, which itself tried to acquire 888 early last year, will continue to go it alone, even if this puts it at a disadvantage against the recent mergers of its competitors, like Betfair, and Paddy Power<\/a>, and Ladbrokes, and Gala-Coral.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe note the consortium\u2019s confirmation that it no longer intends to make an offer for William Hill,\u201d\u00a0Chairman of William Hill Gareth Davis said, plainly. \u201cWe will continue to focus our efforts on our strategy to deliver value for shareholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had a good start to the second half of the year and the board now expects operating profit for 2016 to be at the top end of the previously guided \u00a3260-280m range,\u201d assured\u00a0Davis.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

888 and Rank\u2019s daring bid to acquire William Hill has collapsed following the bookmaking giant\u2019s refusal to open negotiations. The consortium, formed by 888 and Rank a month ago to propose the \u00a33.4 billion bid, threw in the towel today, after William Hill made it clear it was not for the taking. The consortium made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":38689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,19],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n888-Rank Ditches Pursuit of William Hill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"William Hill is determined to go it alone ass 888 and Rank finally get the message.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"888-Rank Ditches Pursuit of William Hill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"William Hill is determined to go it alone ass 888 and Rank finally get the message.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-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=\"2016-08-19T22:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-19T22:37:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/888Holdings.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"282\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/\",\"name\":\"888-Rank Ditches Pursuit of William Hill\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/888Holdings.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-19T22:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-19T22:37:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"William Hill is determined to go it alone ass 888 and Rank finally get the message.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-rank-ditches-pursuit-william-hill\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/888Holdings.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/888Holdings.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":282,\"caption\":\"888 Chairman, Brian Mattingley and CEO Itai Freiberger. 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