William Hill Receives Two Offers For Buyout

UPDATE: According to reports Caesars Entertainment has made a £2.9 billion offer for William Hill and that the William Hill Board of Directors say that they would if the offer was correct recommend to their shareholders.

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William Hill the UK bookmaker has confirmed that it has received two rival bids for its entire business. The betting company said that both Caesars Entertainment and US private equity firm Apollo have both lodged offers however William Hill said that there “can be no certainty” that any formal offer will be made.

UK takeover rules require any company offering a proposal to now register a “firm intention” by 17:00 23^rd October, the news of the bids saw William Hill’s shares soar by nearly 30% to 289.8p a share.

The news follows that of US activist investor HG Vora Capital Management the activist investment firm who has acquired 5.1% of William Hill stock valued at £115 million, HG Vora are well known for its involvement in companies and then pushing for sales and mergers. Indeed the same activist company bought a 5% stake in Caesars Entertainment and pushed hard for that company to look for opportunities, as it turned out Caesars were acquired by Eldorado Resorts in a deal worth £13.6billion (read full article here).

Caesars Entertainment already holds a 20% in William Hill US operations which the bookmaker runs 170 sports betting outlets in 13 different states.