
Ladbrokes-Coral sells shops to Betfred and Stan James

17 October 2016
Ladbrokes and Coral have accepted bet9ja's welcome offer 359 shops to competing wagering firms in what they say is the yohaig code "last substantial hurdle" for their ₤ 2.7 bn merger.
Betfred, owned by billionaire Fred Done, will purchase 322 stores and Stan James the other 37 for a total of ₤ 55.5 m.
Competition regulators ruled in July that Ladbrokes and Coral need to sell 350-400 shops for their merger to be cleared.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will now evaluate the store deals, external.
Jim Mullen, the primary executive of Ladbrokes, said: "The sale of these stores will clear the last substantial difficulty to providing on the merger with Coral and leads the way for our concentrate on completion and quickly providing on the opportunities the merger offers."

The 2 bookmakers stated they would look for approval from the yohaig code CMA to finish the merger once they bet9ja's welcome offer one additional store.
Market leader
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral are the UK's 2nd and third largest retail betting firms, behind William Hill.

Ladbrokes has about 2,150 outlets in Britain and 77 in Northern Ireland. Coral runs 1,850 shops in Britain.
A merger between the 2 would make them the UK's largest High Street bookie.

However, William Hill is seeking its own tie-up with Canadian operator Amaya, owner of the PokerStars franchise, to stay up to date with the competitors and strengthen its online offering.
It was commonly reported, external over the weekend that William Hill plans to press ahead with the ₤ 4.5 bn deal in spite of misgivings from its biggest investor.

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