GVC takes over Ladbrokes Coral
The acquisition and merger wave in the online gambling industry is not yet at an end. After barely a month of negotiations, GVC and Ladbrokes Coral struck a deal. GVC acquires Ladbrokes for a maximum amount of 4.5 billion euros. Ladbrokes receives 46.5 percent of the shares of the new combination GVC Ladbrokes Coral. GVC will soon own 53.5 percent of the shares. Together, GVC and Ladbrokes Coral accounted for a turnover of around € 3.4 billion, of which € 1.6 billion through online gambling. GVC Ladbrokes Coral will soon become the new global market leader.
Deal between GVC and Ladbrokes Coral
The purchase price for Ladbrokes Coral amounts to a minimum of 3.6 billion euros, up to a maximum of 4.5 billion euros. A part is paid with cash, part via shares. The final purchase price depends on what will happen with the so-called ‘Fixed Odd Betting Terminals’ that are found in the betting offices in the United Kingdom.
In the event of a ban on the ‘Fixed Odd Betting Terminals’, the purchase price will be lower. Ladbrokes Coral derives a large part of the profits from the Fixed Odd Betting Terminals. There is a policitacl discussion going on about these slot machines. Politicians argue for a ban or at least for a drastic reduction in the maximum bet values.
GVC Ladbrokes Coral expects to save around 130 million euros a year by joining forces. The management of the newly formed gambling giant will consist of Lee Feldman (GVC), Kenny Alexander (GVC) and Paul Bowtell (Ladbrokes).
GVC Holdings
In 2004, GVC Holding was established as Game VC Holding. It is a company that mainly buys established names. In 2013, GVC together with William Hill took over the online bookmaker Sportingbet for 700 million euros. William Hill received the Spanish and Australian part of Sportingbet, GVC the rest.
Two years later GVC took over BWin.Party for almost 1.5 billion. BWin.Party was a merger of BWin and Partypoker. The casino bookmaker sponsors and sponsors several major football clubs, including AC Milan, Real Madrid and Juventus. GVC was too quick with this acquisition of competitor 888. GVC has several brands after a series of acquisitions, most recently snapping up Bwin.party in February last year. Other gambling sites acquired by GVC include the Italian Giocco Digital, the bingo site Foxy Bingo, CasinoClub and Betboo. GVC is a big publicly listed company where numbers are at least as important as players, maybe even a bit more.
GVC employs 2,800 staff and contractors in 15 offices globally.
Ladbrokes Coral
In 2015 Gala Coral and Ladbrokes merged to Ladbrokes Coral. Ladbrokes was founded in 1886 and has been known as Ladbrokes since 1902. In the United Kingdom Ladbrokes is a familiar face in the streets. Ladbrokes has about 3,500 betting shops spread over the whole country. Ladbrokes is also market leader in Belgium and has nearly 3,700 high street bookies and more than 25,000 staff.
Ladbrokes also focuses more and more on slot machines instead of betting alone. In the betting offices in the United Kingdom, the fiercely criticized Fixed Odd Betting Terminals account for a large part of the turnover. The online casino of Ladbrokes is also expanding further and further. Initially there were only slot machines from Playtech to play, now the choice is a lot wider and you can find many well-known online slot machines.
