William Hill appoints Eric Hageman as CFO
William Hill has announced that Eric Hageman will replace Matt Ashley in the role from June 7.
UK.- The British bookmaker William Hill has appointed Eric Hageman as chief financial officer, effective from June 7. He will replace Matt Ashley, who stepped into the role in April 2020.
Hageman is currently Group CFO at Swiss-based workplace operator IWG, formerly Regus. He previously served as CFO at Chime Communications in London, and before that at TeleCity Group plc and Royal KPN NV.
Ashley leaves William Hill to become CFO at Micro Focus plc, a software and information technology company.
William Hill’s chief executive Ulrik Bengtsson said: “We are delighted to welcome Eric to the William Hill team. He brings a wealth of financial and operational experience within digital and technology-driven industries as well as senior management experience.
“I look forward to working with him as we lead William Hill through the next chapter. I also want to thank Matt Ashley for his substantial contribution to William Hill through the challenging period of the global pandemic.”
On his appointment, Hageman said: “It is an exciting time to join William Hill and I look forward to working with the William Hill team and its shareholder Caesars on the next chapter.”
US casino giant Caesars Entertainment completed its £2.9bn acquisition of William Hill in April. Caesar intends to sell William Hill’s European operations, including its retail betting outlets in the UK and Ireland.
Entain has shown interest in buying William Hill’s European assets.
It has widely been speculated that Apollo Global Management, Fred Done or 888 Holdings were the most likely buyers to take on William Hill’s European assets, which include British and European online operations and 1,400 retail betting shops in the UK and Ireland. Apollo previously made a bid for all of William Hill’s business but lost out to Caesars.
But Entain, which already owns 40 per cent of betting shops in the UK through Ladbrokes and Coral, has now revealed that it also has an eye on the sale.
