Equity Firm Interested In William Hill Assets

Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm is looking at buying all of the William Hill betting shops along with Caesars land based casinos and potentially William Hills Europe focused online gambling business.

A report in The Times newspaper says that the US based equity company is considering a bid for the combined assets once the deal by Caesars to acquire William Hill is completed next year.

Caesars have had a bid of £2.9 billion for William Hill accepted and the US casino operator has made it clear they are only interested in the bookies US business that they are already in partnership with and the company has made it clear they intend to sell off all UK and European assets of William Hill once the deal is completed.

That has opened the door for companies to consider bids, 888Holdings has already stated it is interested in any availability of William Hill online business and Betfred has shown interest in the retail business, however Caesars has had their UK casino business up for sale for years and had no real interest.

However it seems from reports now that Apollo Global Management could go for the whole lot. That would open the question why? Do Apollo Global Management see value in acquiring the assets and selling them off piece by piece?

Originally Apollo Global Management had made a bid for the entire business of William Hill along with Caesars but that offer was eventually withdrawn; now the equity firm seems back in for the remaining assets when they become available.

Caesars has seven casinos in the UK and William Hill has at present some 1,400 retail outlets and an online gambling presence in the UK and Europe.