The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
We had one internally a few days back from Ulrik literally saying nothing has changed and were still waiting for the judge to return a verdict with no dates given.
Poor form from the competitors
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/11/ladbrokes-keeps-covid-furlough-payments-despite-online-betting-surge
https://igamingbusiness.com/raketech-eyes-william-hill-ceo-as-new-chairman/
Takes about 10 attempts to stay logged in and actually post something.
If Takeover fails are we due 275M compensation still from Ceasars or will this be down to Ulrik and his crew meaning that part of the deal would be void
This site is shockingly bad recently
No - it's delayed for a few days as the judge requires more time.
According to HBK, William Hill did not disclose until the day of the shareholder vote that Caesars could in fact only add six names to the list and that it could substitute just one of those names every six months.
William Hill declined to comment. However, in a letter from its chair Roger Devlin to GWM, it said that “provisions of these type [sic] are commonplace in joint venture arrangements (and accordingly well understood by the market)” and that the board rejected any suggestion that the list had been used by Caesars as a “poison pill”.
Tyler Tebbs, co-head of event-driven equities at Louis Capital, said while the hedge funds were protecting their position, the wider corporate governance perspective was significant.
“The board should have disclosed that Caesars only has the ability to throw anyone into the blacklist once every six months. It can’t necessarily block everyone — which is what their original statement suggested,” he said, adding that from an ESG perspective, the funds were “doing the right thing”.
Two people with knowledge of the letters said that other hedge funds had also voiced their concerns to the bookmaker’s board. None of these voted at the shareholder meeting in November.
Of William Hill’s largest shareholders, Société Générale said it held the position on behalf of clients and therefore did not take a view. Credit Suisse declined to comment. HG Vora Capital Management did not respond to a request for comment.
One person close to the Done brothers, William Hill’s second-largest shareholder, said that Betfred founder Fred Done was aware of the dispute but was “going to leave them to it”.
Two hedge funds have accused the board of William Hill of failing to disclose information about the bookmaker’s takeover by the casino group Caesars as they push for shareholders to have a second vote on the deal.
GWM Asset Management and HBK Capital Management have written to the bookmaker’s board ahead of a court hearing to approve the deal on Wednesday. They argued that shareholders did not have enough information to approve William Hill’s £2.9bn takeover by Caesars when it was voted on in November.
GWM, which revealed its intention to contest the takeover on Monday, said in a letter seen by the Financial Times that the board had failed to disclose “potentially material” information about Caesars’ ability to terminate its joint venture with William Hill in the US should another acquirer attempt to buy the UK bookmaker.
The hedge fund said that had this been revealed to shareholders, it may have voted differently and that it also prevented a possible auction for the company that could have resulted in it selling for a higher price.
Since the deal, which values William Hill at 272p per share, was agreed, gambling stocks have risen due to the fast growth of the US market and an uptick in online gambling during lockdowns.
The US is seen as one of the fastest-growing and most valuable gambling markets in the world after a Supreme Court ruling allowed states to legalise sports betting in 2018.
Last week HBK, which has a 10 per cent exposure to William Hill, sent a public letter to the board arguing that it had “led the market to believe that no rival bid for William Hill would ever be possible”.
GWM has exposure to just over 1 per cent of William Hill shares through derivative trades, but said it wanted to contest the deal on the grounds that it was “contrary to the spirit of the UK takeover code”.
William Hill revealed in September that it had been subject to a bidding war between Las Vegas-based Caesars and the private equity group Apollo Global Management. Caesars was able to cut its US joint venture with William Hill should the bookmaker be bought by one of a list of “restricted acquirers” that Caesars could decide.
According to HBK, William Hill did not disclose until the day of the shareholder vote that Caesars could in fact only add six names to the list and that it could substitute just one of those names every six months.
William Hill declined to comment. However, in a letter from its chair Roger Devlin to GWM, it said that “provisions of these type [sic] are commonplace in joint venture arrangements (and accordingly well understood by the market)” and that the board rejected any suggestion that the list had been used by Caesars as a “poison pill”.
Tyler Tebbs, co-head of event-driven equities at Louis Capital, said while the hedge funds were protecting their position, the wider corporate governance perspective was significant.
“The board should have disclosed that Caesars only has the ability to throw
2nd fund made a complaint
https://www.ft.com/content/4d8b2e9d-f27c-49a8-8021-ad189c8220de
Update from Ulrik makes me think that nothing will come of this but who knows
Still holding a fair whack here so lets see
At least it looks like we can spend some of our profits with lockdowns easing everywhere.
Hope all are going strong in 2021!
https://www.legalsportsreport.com/sports-betting/revenue/
If anyone is interested.
Thanks for asking mate - yeah myself & the rest of my colleagues were all given new roles so it worked out well
First time in about 10 years I've not given a damn about the numbers
Hope everyone is well.
They are pushing for a quick deal and have again stated today (both Ceasars and Hills) that it will most likely be done in Q2 or even as early as March: https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1609233490989016600/caesars-expects-us-clearance-for-william-hill-buy-as-early-as-march.aspx
That would be me Pmoran1969 - Luckily all my colleagues who were put at risk a few weeks back have new positions within the company.
I'm sure once Caesars sells us on we'll be in the same position again but for the time being I'm still in a job an enjoying it so can't ask for anymore than that
Caesars added that it expects all necessary regulatory approvals to be obtained in the second quarter of 2021 and possibly as early as the end of March 2021.
Taken from this site: https://igamingbusiness.com/william-hill-shareholders-approve-caesars-deal/
Thanks for the info gewilla - some of my divi's that were reinvested are at a loss so I can write some of those off but thankfully all my main investments via the sharesaves are all well in profit.
Unfortunately (or as some may say fortunately) I don't have a wife so the gifting part is off the table....but as you say I aint gonna be broke if I have to pay some tax : )
Ulrik initially told us that this deal would complete H2 2021 at the earliest but I'm reading today Ceasars say potentially done by march 2021.