Hills-GVC Sportingbet deadline extended until Friday

William Hill and GVC Holdings’ bid to jointly acquire Sportingbet has received a fourth extension until 5pm this Friday with only the final terms and conditions to agree before a £485m deal is done, a source close to the matter has told eGaming Review.

Today marked the third deadline for William Hill and GVC to make a firm bid for the Alderney licensed operator, however Sportingbet this morning said it had agreed a short-term three-day extension until the end of this week in a bid to finalise the deal that many now expect to go through.

“The deal is still progressing and the final terms and conditions still need to be agreed but it is now just a question of completing the paperwork and ensuring that all the legal documentation is signed and sealed,” a source close to the matter told eGR.

Earlier this month William Hill and GVC reached a “conditional agreement” to acquire Sportingbet for a revised 56.1 pence a share in a deal valuing the company at £485m.

Following a poor set of first quarter results at the end of November which saw Sportingbet’s overall revenues fall 35% compared to Q1 2011, William Hill CEO Ralph Topping and a number of executives held crunch talks with Sportingbet counterparts in an attempt to drive down the price it would pay for the company.

Topping and his team succeeded in lowering the fee going from the original 61.1p a share offer to the 4 December agreement valuing each Sportingbet share at 56.1p. This was not a firm offer with Sportingbet requesting a third extension until 5pm today in order to “enable the parties to conclude their ongoing discussions”, a statement read at the time.

The revised proposal comprises 44.8p in cash, 1.1p dividend in cash and 0.0435 new GVC shares per Sportingbet share for each of the operator’s shareholders. eGaming Review understands that William Hill would pay approximately £418m in cash.