It seems like the race to obtain the assets of William Hill is intensifying by the day. As a result, the latest giant to enter the William Hill bidding wars is the US firm Advent International. That is just one of the long lists of interested candidates who are closely monitoring the situation. Consequently, with names such as Apollo and 888 Holdings among the interested, this can easily turn into a clash of titans.
Apollo already went head-to-head with Caesars Entertainment, back in October 2020. Specifically, for the same purpose of purchasing the William Hill brand. However, after turning down two offers from Apollo, the William Hill ownership decided to sell the company to Caesars Entertainment. There are several speculations as to why Apollo got the two rejections. However, it is widely known that the reasons are due to the bigger bid by Caesars. Consequently, the amount that Caesars paid to acquire William Hill is a whooping £2.9bn ($4.04bn).
With this in mind, and being one of the biggest betting providers in the world, it is no surprise the magnitude of brands interested in purchasing the non-US stores of William Hill. UK’s The Times, one of the most respected newspapers in the country, claims that Apollo is definitely the favourite for winning the bidding race. Especially if you consider the previous interest of the company in William Hill’s assets. However, nothing is for sure yet. Even more so if you consider that gaming giants 888 Holdings, and the US Advent International are now in the race. And they both have quite big chances of winning if you consider their wealth and pedigree.
Despite being an equity firm, Advent International definitely has the means and desire to make this acquisition possible. This concerns Apollo officials even more, after the previous failure in purchasing William Hill. Whatever the case, Caesars is pushing to complete the sale by the end of the year. This makes for additional pressure on the companies and will make for quite an interesting finish to the year.
And who knows, there might be a new name to enter the William Hill bidding wars. Just as the US Advent International did. Which is sure to complicate things even further. Whatever the case, we are gonna have to wait and see who will be lucky enough to get the green light from Caesars Entertainment.
