William Hill top execs step down as 888 completes takeover
William Hill top executives will step down as 888 completes its acquisition of the gambling powerhouse.
In an announcement this afternoon, 888 said that as part of the organisational changes, Ulrik Bengtsson and Eric Hageman, former CEO and CFO of William Hill, will be leaving the group.
Commenting on the completion of the acquisition, Itai Pazner, CEO of 888, said : “I am delighted to announce the completion of our transformational combination with William Hill.
We have built an outstanding leadership team, combining strengths from across both businesses, and as I look at the future, the combination of our product and content leadership, powered by our proprietary technology, and our world class brands, gives us a powerful platform for growth”.
888 Chair Lord Mendelsohn said “This combination brings together two high quality businesses to create a powerful, global betting and gaming business”.
The combined group looks to achieve pre-tax cost synergies of at least £100m, which it expects to be fully delivered by 2025.
Back in April, 888 sliced the value of its upcoming William Hill acquisition due to the changing “macro-economic and regulatory environment”.
The deal agreed with US powerhouse Caesars Entertainment refers to William Hill’s non-US assets, which now have an enterprise value of between £1.95bn and £2.05bn, as opposed to the £2.2bn that was agreed last September.
The new agreement meant that 888 paid £250m less for an initial cash consideration, down from £835m.