Final Hurdle Cleared For Ladbrokes Coral GVC Deal

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given the green light to the Ladbrokes Coral GVC deal after the competitions watchdog said “the deal does not give rise to competition concerns”.

 

It added that they are not close rivals and there are many other providers of betting and gaming services online”.

 

The CMA said its probe “looked closely at betting services for individual sports and individual games but found that, in all cases, there will be enough rivals to the merged entity to prevent price increases or a reduced quality of service as a result of the merger”.

 

With the rubber stamp the deal which will see GVC take a 53% controlling stake in the betting firm with GVC Chief Executive Kenneth Alexander taking the top job.

 

At present the takeover deal is valued at £3.2 billion but will rise with add-ons and performance. It was only last November Ladbrokes acquired Gala Coral in a £2.3 billion merger now GVC is moving in to take control of them both.

 

GVC and Ladbrokes Coral believe the tie-up will help make £100 million a year in cost cutting helping to improve shareholder value. Ladbrokes Coral has over 25,000 employees working in retail and online and GVC has 2,800 employees in Europe and globally for its online brands.