Caesars Entertainment has today announced the sale of all its non-US William Hill assets to 888 Holdings PLC in a deal worth over $3bn. The agreement, after debt repayments and other adjustments are accounted for, will net Caesar approximately $1.2bn.
Currently, the transaction is awaiting approval from the shareholders of 888 Holdings, as well as regulatory approvals. The deal, which was facilitated by Deutsche Bank and Linklaters LLP, is expected to be closed during the first quarter of 2022.
"I'd like to personally thank Ulrik and all of the team at William Hill for their professionalism and dedication while they have been part of Caesars and particularly during the sale process,” Tom Reeg, CEO of Caesars Entertainment, Inc., said of Ulrik Bengtsson, William Hill group CEO. “I am delighted that, as we said we would when we announced the offer for William Hill PLC, we have found an owner for the William Hill business outside the US which shares the same objectives, approaches and longer-term ambitions of that business."
This deal was originally broken by The Times in the UK on September 7 when the newspaper reported that 888 fended off competition from Apollo Global Management, who had bid over $2bn for the assets.
Caesars had acquired William Hill in April though a deal worth approximately $4bn. Since then, the casino operator has gone on to quickly sell the British gaming company’s European assets.
Caesars has recently announced the signing of an agreement with Genius Sports that will see the casino operator utilize the sports data company’s suite of live data tools across its sports betting platforms.
The agreement will provide Caesars Sportsbook with official sports data and products from the NFL, concurrently.
Genius will become a programmatic advertising partner to the casino brand and supply marketing technology to aid in customer acquisition and fan engagement.
