William Hill completes Sportingbet acquisition
Hills CEO Ralph Topping says operator aims to "maximise" its position in Australian and Spanish markets following joint takeover completion.
William Hill has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Sportingbet’s Australian business and has been granted a call option over Sportingbet’s locally-licensed Spanish business for a total cash consideration of £459.4m.
The acquisition was made as part of the joint acquisition of Sportingbet by William Hill and GVC Holdings, which will also see the latter take over the remainder of Sportingbet’s portfolio including the Danish business and those in unregulated markets.
Last month, William Hill received confirmation from the Northern Territories Commission and the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board that they had granted their respective approvals of the Group’s ownership of Sportingbet’s Australian business, Hills said in a statement.
Ralph Topping, CEO of William Hill, said on the completion of the deal: “This acquisition is part of our core strategy to expand selectively into international markets and to grow online revenues. Australia is one of the largest licensed betting markets in the world where, up until now, William Hill has not had a footprint. We have particular skills in those areas of the Australian market that are demonstrating strong structural growth: online, mobile, fixed odds betting and sports betting.
“The Australian business offers us a well-recognised brand, an experienced team and a market-leading position in a highly competitive market. We look forward to working with our new colleagues to use the capabilities of both businesses to maximise that position.”
Meanwhile Kenneth Alexander, CEO of GVC Holdings, commented: “The acquisition of Sportingbet is a transformational deal. It consolidates GVC’s position as one of the leading operators in these markets and should provide scope for considerable growth.
“Over the next 18 months, the GVC Board will be focused on integrating and restructuring the Sportingbet business and leveraging its market leading sportsbook platform and trading team. We look forward to working with our new colleagues and believe that the Enlarged Group has an exciting future.”
The listing of the Sportingbet shares are expected to be cancelled by London Stock Exchange with effect from 8am on 20 March 2013.
News of the deal first broke in September 2012, with an initial offer of £350m being rejected by Sportingbet the following month. The bidders were subsequently given a total of four extensions to make an improved offer, agreeing “in principle” a 65p per share offer to seal the deal by early December, before revising this proposal to set a price of 56.1p a share.