LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Gambling company William Hill Plc (WMH.L) on Monday announced that its Board has unanimously rejected the revised takeover proposal from 888 Holdings plc (888.L) and Rank Group plc (RNK.L) -Consortium, as it continues to substantially undervalue William Hill. The company said its Board continues to see no merit in engaging with the Consortium.
William Hill confirmed that it has received an unsolicited non-binding highly conditional revised proposal on August 14 from the Consortium regarding a potential combination of the three companies.
The Revised Proposal comprises 199 pence in cash and 0.860 BidCo shares per William Hill share, and would result in William Hill shareholders owning 48.8% of the combined group.
William Hill noted that with the exception of its shareholders' proposed ownership of the combined group, none of the other key terms of the Revised Proposal have changed from the original proposal of August 8.
The latest proposal equates to an estimated value of 352 pence per share, while the Consortium's previous proposal has an estimated value of 339 pence per share on the same basis. The Revised Proposal represents a premium of only 12% to the William Hill share price of 314 pence on July 22, being the last trading day prior to the announcement of a possible offer by the Consortium.
William Hill said it continues to believe that the Revised Proposal is highly opportunistic and does not reflect the inherent value of the Group.
Under the Revised Proposal, William Hill shareholders continue to be offered a substantial proportion of their consideration in highly leveraged BidCo shares. The company said it is directly relevant that the Board of William Hill continues to believe that a combination of William Hill with 888 and Rank will not enhance William Hill's strategic positioning or deliver superior value for shareholders compared against William Hill's strategy.
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