Caesars in takeover talks with William Hill

Some interesting M&A developments during the week, with the news that US casino giant Caesars is in advanced takeover talks to buy William Hill.

It's an all cash offer of around £2.9 billion.

The interesting part, is that Caesars only appear interested in William Hill's US-based sports betting operations. They have flagged their intent to flog off all non-US operations if the deal goes ahead - which is the vast majority of William Hill group assets. Makes you wonder why they didn't just make an offer for the US business in the first place (smaller fee for their advisors perhaps :cool: ).

Anyway, should the deal go ahead we're likely to see a bidding war emerge for the rest of William Hill.

Sure Flutter, GCV, maybe even bet365 would be interested?

I assume I'm not alone in feeling William Hill's live casino has been on a downward slope for quite some time now.

The best days at Evolution unquestionably when they had 3 distinct themed private table areas, frequent live draws, regular table mini bonus games/races, plus lots of other activity from the Hosts. And before that usually one of the first casinos to get each new live game launch.


The “prestige” of squeezing into those old gold corsets at Will Hill also came with the highest pay for dealers at Evolution before the Immersive, Party, etc tables broke that ceiling.


In other words, definitely a shadow of its former self in 2020 - not the trendsetter Evo casino anymore!

.....so probably the best thing that could happen to it now would be for the Caesars deal to go ahead and the assets flogged off.

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In other words, definitely a shadow of its former self in 2020 - not the trendsetter Evo casino anymore!

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Agreed.
They were a stand out in the early private area days...by far the biggest table selection, arguably best looking setup, multiple private areas and one of the the busiest promo programs.
Definitely took their foot off the gas 3 or 4 years ago and have been overtaken by competitors since.

Interesting hearing former CEO Ralph Topping's thoughts on this takeover...'delighted for the deal to be done following years of strategic failure at William Hill'. And there's little hope that the US and EU businesses will remain together.

Suggesting management after him dropped the baton.

Another interesting little footnote to all this... Evolution have just done a supply deal with William Hill for US live games. Which will effectively be a supply deal with Caesars going forward.

With all regulatory hurdles now passed, this purchase was finalised last week.

A release on the Caesars website announced...

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it has completed its acquisition of William Hill PLC (LSE: WMH) ("William Hill") for approximately $4.0 billion. The transaction gives Caesars ownership of one of the world's leading betting and gambling companies and gives the Company the ability to maximize the opportunity within sports betting and online gaming in the U.S.

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And now, as expected Caesars are looking to offload William Hill's non-us assets and buyers are already lining up.

888, Kindred, Betfred among those throwing their hats in the ring.

The final phase of this transaction has been announced. Caesars have now offloaded William Hill's non-US assets, to 888 for £2.9 billion