{"id":40772,"date":"2016-10-10T17:00:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T00:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=40772"},"modified":"2016-10-10T15:20:41","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T22:20:41","slug":"amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/","title":{"rendered":"Amaya and William Hill in $6 Billion Merger Negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Amaya
William Hill and Amaya are mulling a merger, but there may well be risks involved that could dissuade both sets of shareholders. (Image: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/i>Amaya and William Hill confirmed over the weekend that they are in discussions to merge. Their aim is to create a $6 billion Trans-Atlantic gambling powerhouse with greater scale and diversification.<\/p>\n

With similar market caps, the two companies described the proposal as a \u201cmerger of equals,\u201d although officially it would be classified as a reverse takeover of Amaya by William Hill, which is the smaller of the two.<\/p>\n

The companies announced the proposal via a joint press release on Saturday in response to a Reuters article reporting on rumors of the negotiations.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmaya has been undertaking a review of its strategic alternatives since\u00a0February 2016.<\/p>\n

Over recent months, the Board of William Hill has been evaluating options to accelerate\u00a0William Hill’s\u00a0strategy of increasing diversification by growing its digital and international businesses,\u201d said the release.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe potential merger would be consistent with the strategic objectives of both\u00a0William Hill<\/a>\u00a0and Amaya and would create a clear international leader across online sports betting, poker and casino.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThese discussions are ongoing and there can be no certainty that an agreement will be reached,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

United Front<\/b><\/h2>\n

In an era of consolidation within the European gambling sector, William Hill has been eager for a merger or acquisition for some time.<\/p>\n

Early last year it attempted to acquire 888, and then\u00a0in August of this year it\u00a0became\u00a0the subject of an unwanted takeover attempt in return, by the very same 888 and\u00a0Rank Group.<\/p>\n

While William Hill is the UK\u2019s largest retail bookmaker, it has fallen behind its competitors in terms of its digital operations. In July, the company ousted its CEO, James Henderson, from the board, apparently for his failure to turn around its underperforming online arm.<\/p>\n

Amaya could provide the online element\u00a0that William Hill has been missing.<\/p>\n

Amaya<\/a>, meanwhile, is desperate to diversify beyond its core consumer offering, PokerStars, with sports betting highest on the list. Its sports betting brand BetStars launched in December 2015 and has failed to set the world on fire. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Deal Needs \u201cMore Sauce\u201d<\/b><\/h2>\n

But while the two companies have different core offerings, there are synergies which they believe would generate cost-savings of over \u00a3100 million a year.<\/p>\n

There are risks, however, not least the fact that William Hill has no permanent CEO and Amaya\u2019s former CEO and major shareholder, David Baazov, is facing five counts of securities fraud in Montreal.<\/p>\n

Amaya is also facing a potential $870 million fine from a judge in Kentucky in relation to PokerStars\u2019 operations there prior to Black Friday.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the UK government is undertaking a major review of fixed-odds betting terminals in bookmakers\u2019 shops, and increased regulation of the machines could harm William Hill\u2019s revenues.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a dish, it probably needs a lot of sauce to make it palatable for shareholders,\u201d mused an unnamed insider to the UK\u2019s Financial Times today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amaya and William Hill confirmed over the weekend that they are in discussions to merge. Their aim is to create a $6 billion Trans-Atlantic gambling powerhouse with greater scale and diversification. With similar market caps, the two companies described the proposal as a \u201cmerger of equals,\u201d although officially it would be classified as a reverse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":40777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,19],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAmaya and William Hill in $6 Billion Merger Negotiations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Amaya and William Hill seek scale and diversification through consolidation.\" \/>\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=\"Amaya and William Hill in $6 Billion Merger Negotiations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Amaya and William Hill seek scale and diversification through consolidation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/\" \/>\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=\"2016-10-11T00:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-10T22:20:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/39199233-25_07_2016-WILLIAM-HILL-MA_RANK-GROUP-GB-888-HOLDINGS.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"293\" \/>\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=\"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\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/\",\"name\":\"Amaya and William Hill in $6 Billion Merger Negotiations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/39199233-25_07_2016-WILLIAM-HILL-MA_RANK-GROUP-GB-888-HOLDINGS.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-11T00:00:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-10T22:20:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Amaya and William Hill seek scale and diversification through consolidation.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/amaya-william-hill-6-billion-merger-negotiations\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/39199233-25_07_2016-WILLIAM-HILL-MA_RANK-GROUP-GB-888-HOLDINGS.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/39199233-25_07_2016-WILLIAM-HILL-MA_RANK-GROUP-GB-888-HOLDINGS.jpg\",\"width\":440,\"height\":293,\"caption\":\"William Hill and Amaya are mulling a merger, but there may well be risks involved that could dissuade both sets of shareholders. 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