888 Holdings wins race for William Hill non-US business

(Sharecast News) - Gambling company 888 Holdings on Thursday said it had won the race to buy the non-US international business of William Hill from Caesars Entertainment for £2.2bn.
The combination is expected to deliver "significant operating efficiencies", including pre-tax cost synergies of at least £100m a year, leading to improved profit margins, 888 said in a statement.

It won an auction process Apollo and CVC Capital Partners working with Tipico, a German betting group. Advent International recently withdrew from the race and the CVC-led bid was knocked out over the weekend.

888 also said it expected to raise approximately £500m via a capital raise " to be undertaken at an appropriate time".

William Hill, famous for its chain of 1,400 betting shops, was taken over in April by Caesars Entertainment in a £2.9bn deal, but the Las Vegas casino operator only wanted the US operations.

Caesars, which already had a US joint venture with William Hill, made clear from the start that it did not want the non-US assets and intended to find a buyer for them once it completed the acquisition.