William Hill dismisses £3bn joint takeover bid
Earlier this week, one of the biggest bookmaker in Britain, William Hill, rejected a £3.2 billion joint takeover bid from Rank Group and 888 Holdings.
The bid, in shares and cash, was called "highly opportunistic" by Gareth Davis, chairman of William Hill, who said it did not reflect the company's true value:
This conditional proposal substantially undervalues William Hill, is highly opportunistic and does not reflect the inherent value of the business. It is a very complex three-way combination at a low premium involving substantial risk for William Hill shareholders: execution risk, integration risk and risks of materially increased leverage.
The rejection was not taken well over at 888 Holdings as Eyal Shaked, the son of 888 co-founder Avi Shaked, took to Twitter to state, that the rejection would result in William Hill's downfall: