William Hill’s £5 billion merger with Amaya meets cool reception

The City on Monday delivered a lukewarm early verdict on struggling bookie William Hill’s bid to create a £5 billion gaming giant via an all-share “merger of equals” with Canada’s Amaya, the owner of PokerStars.

Shares in Hills, which believes the deal can massively accelerate its international growth, added 3%, or 9.8p, to 304.4p but long-suffering investors in the bookmaker have still seen their shares lose 23% this year.

Hills, which sacked chief executive James Henderson after a profit warning, refused to engage with a consortium proposal from online gaming firm 888 and Grosvenor casinos owner Rank in the summer, which offered 394p in cash and shares, pricing it at around £3.4 billion.

Sources close to the deal hinted Hills could even turn the tables on 888 again and revive last year’s attempted takeover of the online firm after a merger with Amaya, saying: “We become a big player and that enables us to swallow smaller players as appropriate.”

Sources said the deal would create a diversified business across poker, casino and sports betting, with 40% of revenues from overseas and 40% from bricks-and-mortar betting shops.

A combination could generate £100 million in cost savings.