Bally’s Intralot Agrees £243m All-Stock Takeover of Evoke at 77% Premium
The owner of William Hill and 888 agreed to an all-stock deal valuing the company at 52p per share after two months of talks. The transaction follows UK tax increases that took effect in April.
rte.ieEvoke, the owner of William Hill and the 888 online casino brand, agreed a £243m all-stock takeover by the Athens-listed Greek casino and lottery operator Bally’s Intralot. The companies had been in talks for the past two months. 4p share price in the quarter to 17 April, the last business day before the talks became public.
Shares in the London-listed company rose 15% on Friday. 2bn in 2021 for William Hill’s network of 1,400 high street bookmakers. Its share price has since fallen 90%.
8bn against a market value of just over £180m. ” The increase took effect in April. A separate duty on online sports bets, excluding horse racing, will rise from 15% to 25% from April 2027.
Evoke chief executive Per Widerström has previously said the tax changes would cost the business up to £135m a year. In December the company appointed Morgan Stanley and Rothschild to review strategic options. ” He added that the deal represented the most attractive and deliverable outcome for shareholders.
2% of Evoke, backed the transaction. Avi Shaked said: “When I founded Evoke 30 years ago, I envisioned building a company that would stand among the world’s leading gaming businesses. ” Last month Evoke said it would close about 200 William Hill betting shops from May, citing cost pressures including the tax rises.
Bally’s chair Soo Kim said Intralot was confident the deal would deliver substantial benefits for both sets of shareholders. Intralot provides technology for 12 state lotteries in the US and operates in Europe, South America, north Africa, south-east Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Evoke removed its chief executive in 2023 and suspended VIP accounts in the Middle East after an internal investigation into anti-money-laundering failures.
4m fine, then the third highest in British gambling regulation history, over failings that allowed customers to amass large losses during the Covid pandemic. Intralot stated that it continues to view the UK as a highly attractive market and sees the current conditions as a significant opportunity for consolidation.
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