Rank and 888 team up in takeover bid for William Hill

Casino operator Rank and 888 Holdings, the online gaming group, announced they are preparing an ambitious bid for the bookie which could cost over £3 billion (€3.58 billion).

UK.- Gambling groups Rank Group and 888 Holdings are joining forced to prepare a double bid for William Hill, Britain’s biggest bookmaker. William Hill left itself vulnerable to a bid after its board ousted chief executive James Henderson for his inability to revive the bookmaker’s online business.

Rank and 888 Holdings announced that they are drafting an ambitious bid for William Hilll which could cost more than £3bn (€3.58 billion). If the bid will see Rank and 888 merge is still unclear. Both companies have a combined market value of £1.7 billion (€2.03 billion).

The combination of the three gambling firms would create a £5 billion (€5.97 billion) gambling giant likely to enter the FTSE 100. However, Rank and 888 has described their partnership only as “a consortium,” which suggests the bid could take a different structure.

“The consortium sees significant industrial logic in the combination, through consolidation of their complementary online and land-based operations, delivery of substantial revenue and cost synergies and from the anticipated benefits of economies of scale which will accrue to all shareholders,” said 888 and Rank in a joint statement.