Caesars Takeover Bid Gets William Hill Shareholder Support

Caesars Entertainment Incorporated, the American casino operator, has announced that its takeover bid for William Hill has been approved by the British company’s shareholders.

The offer, worth 3.7 million U. S. dollars (around 5.2 billion Australian dollars), was was launched by Caesars Entertainment at the end of September. Apollo Global Management was another big international company that was interested in taking over William Hill, but eventually they decided to go for North American company Great Canadian Gaming.

Both companies have been around for almost a century now, they were both founded all the way back in the 1930s and have expanded all over the world since then.

Hill started in England in 1934 and is one of the oldest companies in the sports betting and gambling industry. At first, it offered betting services through mail and in 1998 it made the move to online, developing its casino services side as well.

Now William Hill is licensed in most major jurisdictions around the world and its online casino offers content from the biggest and best software providers.

Caesars Entertainment is focused on the land-based side of the business. It started in Reno, Nevada, back in 1937 and now it has become the fourth-largest gaming company in the world, with annual revenues of over 8.5 billion dollars.

Earlier this year the company was acquired by Eldorado Resorts and the transaction was worth over 17 billion U.S. dollars.

In last week’s virtual meeting, the majority of Hill’s shareholders voted to accept the offer from Caesars Entertainment. The shareholders also approved Caesar’s takeover scheme, which describes the upcoming steps in the company’s future.

In fact, the American conglomerate is only interested in William Hill’s betting operations in the United States, while the other parts of the business will most likely be sold once the takeover deal goes through.

Speaking about the shareholder approval, Tom Reed, Chief Executive Officer at Caesars Entertainment Incorporated, said: “We are pleased to have received William Hill shareholder support for our recommended cash offer. We continue to work towards satisfying the remaining regulatory conditions and look forward to completing the transaction next year and integrating William Hill US into our Caesars sports betting and iGaming franchise.”

Caesars Entertainment expects all necessary regulatory approvals to be obtained in the second quarter of 2021, but they also have an optimistic scenario in which the deal could be sealed by the end of March 2021.

SOURCE: “Shareholders of William Hill PLC Vote to Approve Caesars Entertainment, Inc. Recommended Cash Acquisition“. PRNewswire. November 19, 2020.