888 Holdings Zeroes in on William Hill's Non-US Assets

British gambling giant 888 Holdings Inc announced on Tuesday, September 7th, that it is in ‘advanced discussions’ with Caesars Entertainment to acquire its William Hill non-US assets. The said non-US assets include 1,500 retail betting shops alongside the William Hill online gambling and sports betting operations in different countries, including Spain and Italy.

After nearly a year of speculations, the Gibraltar-based gambling company finally confirmed the rumors that it was eyeing William Hill’s UK and European business. According to a report by The Times, acquisition firm CVC Capital Partner was one of the last of a long list of interested companies to quit the William Hill race. CVC pulled out last week, leaving private equity group Apollo Global Management and 888 as the last two contenders fighting to take over the European operations of the bookmarker.

888 then jumped ahead of the line after outshining the Apollo with a higher bid of over £2 billion for the non-US business of the 87-year-old bookmarker. In a late-morning press statement to the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, 888 said:

Quote

“888 notes the recent press speculation and confirms that it is in advanced discussions with Caesars Entertainment regarding a possible acquisition of the international (non-US) business of William Hill… There can be no certainty that these advanced discussions will result in a transaction.”

Apollo Global Management on a Losing Streak for the William Hill Bet

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time another company has edged out Apollo Global in matters William Hill. Last year, the private equity conglomerate made its first attempt at the Gibraltar-based gambling bigwig but was arm-twisted into backing away.

At that time, Caesars Entertainment moved to pull the oldest trick in the book to compel Apollo into letting go of its ambition to buy the company.  Caesars threatened to withdraw its joint US venture with William Hill should any other company successfully win the bid to acquire the British betting titan. But, of course, such a decision would have made William Hill less attractive for any potential buyer as the US operations had been making significant profits for the company.

Caesars Entertainment eventually bought William Hill for £2.9 billion. After the acquisition, the company made it clear right off the bat that it wasn’t interested in the British operator’s business outside the United States. All along, the US operator had planned to find a buyer for the non-US business. As we speak, many of William Hill’s US-facing operations have already been rebranded to merge them with the Caesars’ iconic style and product offering.

East or West, Home is the Best?

Should 888 Holdings successfully purchase William Hill, the Gibraltar-based betting juggernaut might just find its way back home to the UK. And this could be happening sooner than most people expected. Only four months have passed since April – when Caesars completed the transaction to buy the British gaming Goliath from the London Stock Exchange.

Like a lot of companies in the gaming sector, William Hill’s brick-and-mortar business suffered a blow during last year’s pandemic. Despite permanently closing some of its less profitable UK betting shops mid-2020, the company still ended up posting a 30% year-over-year revenue decline from its UK betting shops operations in 2021.

888, on the other hand, has been performing exceptionally well. For the first half of 2021, the company experienced a 39% revenue jump after winning a record revenue of $528 million. In the UK, 888 saw its revenue surge by 50% in H1 2021, a stellar performance that made the company shift its goalpost for earning expectations for the entire year.