Caesars entertainment, who own the popular Vegas casino Caesars Palace, have said they’re in advanced talks with William Hill regarding a takeover.
Getty Images.
The firm have said that William Hill have expressed interest in the deal of 242 a share, but have also had an offer from US firm Apollo. If William Hill accepted this deal, Caesars have said it would ruin a joint venture that the two companies have. Caesars currently have a 20% stake in William Hill’s overseas operations in America, and its believed are looking to expand from the 170 retail sites they have in 13 different states.
Caesars chief executive Tom Reeg said: “The opportunity to combine our land based-casinos, sports betting and online gaming in the US is a truly exciting prospect.
“William Hill’s sports betting expertise will complement Caesars’ current offering, enabling the combined group to better serve our customers in the fast growing US sports betting and online market.”
After news broke on Friday that WH had recieved two takeover offers, the share price jumped by over 40%. They also announced, at that time, that the offers for the company were above the current share price, which was sitting in the low 200s.
An Aviva investment expert has said that the 312 price per share it ended at on Friday after the big surge could cause potential investors to offer higher on the takeover.
He said: “The view is – and we do hold some William Hill so it has some interest here – the 40% rise on Friday, given comparative valuations in the US, it is possible that the bid comes in at a higher level than the closing price we saw then so there still might be some upside.”
He also mentioned how the winning bid is likely to come from Caesars, as they own 20% in the US already, so theres some familiarity and trust there.
Share prices have since dropped to 275 per share at the time of writing, but, thats still £50 higher than the prices were when news broke of a potential takeover.
