Rank drops deal with Gala [3]

Ditched...

THE £250m bid for Gala Coral has been ditched by Rank Group. The move, if it would have gone ahead would have “created the largest casino operator by number of venues in the UK,” according to the Financial Times, who also reported on the story.

The deal was sparked in January. Ever since talks first arose, the gaming the world has been waiting with anticipation for it to move forward.

Ian Burke, Rank’s chief executive, said in a statement: “Rank remains committed to delivering sustainable growth in shareholder value; the proposed terms of the potential acquisition did not achieve this objective,”

He said Rank would “now concentrate on delivering its organic growth plans, including the delivery of 12 more G casinos by 2015”.

Gala Coral told the iGaming Post:

“Our casino business was not for sale when Rank made an unsolicited approach.  Now that it is clear that a transaction on terms acceptable to our shareholders cannot be concluded, we are very happy to continue to drive growth from our casinos which are performing very strongly.”

The talks had failed to materialize on Thursday, after both parties had reportedly failed to agree on terms.