Aug 18 (Reuters) - Casino and bingo hall operator Rank GroupPlc and online gambling company 888 Holdings Plc have withdrawn their proposal to combine with rivalBritish bookmaker William Hill Plc.
Rank Group and 888 said on Thursday they had not been ableto meaningfully engage with William Hill's board and did notintend making an offer.
William Hill spurned the consortium's initial 3.16billion-pound ($4.1 billion) cash-and-shares proposal, saying it"substantially undervalued" the business. It rejected a revisedtakeover proposal on Monday, saying it continued to see no meritin engaging with the consortium. (Reporting by Pranav Kiran in Bengaluru; editing by SusanThomas)