According to people close to the bidding for William Hill there seems to be only two parties left standing for the UK and European assets of William Hill, those being Apollo Asset Management and CVC Capital owned Tipico.
It is said that Entain and 888 Holdings both put in bids in the first round that were too low and with the second stage of bidding taking place on September 1 it is a straight fight between two major capital investment companies.
Any bids would have to surpass the £1.5 billion that new owners Caesars Entertainment expect to fetch for the part of the business it had decided to sell and focus on the US William Hill sports betting only.
Many observers believe that Tipico is best positioned to win the bidding war but Apollo know the William Hill business best. There are also rumours that whichever company wins will consider listing the bookmaker back on the UK stock market.
