Ladbrokes Set To Merge With Coral
Betting company Ladbrokes has announced plans to merge with Gala Coral, in a deal that would create Britain’s biggest bookmaker worth £2.3bn.
The deal creates a company with £2.1bn of revenues and the country’s largest estate of betting shops.
The combined business will be listed on the stock exchange and called Ladbrokes Coral.
The move, which does not include Gala’s bingo business, would take it past the current high street leader, William Hill, combining Ladbrokes’ 2,100 shops with Coral’s 1,845.
Shareholders in Ladbrokes, which is already listed in the FTSE 250, will have 51.75% of the new business, while investors in Gala, which is owned by a group of private equity houses including Anchorage Capital Partners and Apollo Global Management, will have 48.25%.
To fund the deal Ladbrokes will offer 93 million new shares to investors, representing 10% of the company.
Jim Mullen, who is currently boss of Ladbrokes, will lead the combined company while Gala chief executive Carl Leaver will become executive deputy chairman.
