The UK-based bookmaker William Hill announced that it acquired the gaming and betting software solution developer Grand Parade Ltd in a £13.6-million cash-and-stock deal.
According to the bookmaking operator’s statement, a total of 495,048 new ordinary shares at the price of 10 pence each would be issued by William Hill to Grand Parade as part of the agreement. The cash portion of the deal was not revealed so far.
The deal is considered to be part of William Hill’s strategy to consolidate its presence on the market after finding itself a bit isolated lately. The takeover of Grand Parade comes only a few weeks after William Hill gave a rather cold welcome of a proposed joint acquisition offer posted by the consortium of 888 Holdings and Rank Group.
Philip Bowcock, interim Chief Executive Officer of William Hill, commented on the newly-inked deal saying that the acquisition of Grand Parade would quickly increase the scale of the bookmaker’s development team. According to Mr. Bowcock, this is expected to be done by filling the resource gaps that existed up to date and improve the quality of the company’s creative capabilities.
The bookie’s interim CEO also commented that the deal would provide them with the chance to take advantage of their Trafalgar front-end platform and support their collaboration with OpenBet for building their new back-end platform.
The British gambling software manufacturer Grand Parade was established in 2007 and since then has been focused on creating a variety of sports betting and gaming websites, applications and commerce platforms, which are also used by some media industries, too.
Over the last few years, the gaming industry of the UK has been greatly changed due to some massive mergers and acquisitions deals. This inludes the £5-billion deal between Paddy Power and Betfair in September 2015, last year’s £1-billion takeover bid of GVC over 888, as well as the latest deal in the UK industry – the expected £2-billion merger of Ladbrokes and Gala Coral.
Although the UK-based company has been a bit isolated lately, it has recently entered a 2-year partnership deal with the English Premier League football club Everton as well as an agreement with the Scottish Football Association (SFA). The Everton deal is to last from the 2016/2017 season to the end of the 2017/2018 season.
Under the agreement’s terms, the bookmaker is to become the official European betting partner of the football club. William Hill will also be given the chance to offer an improved betting concourse and expand its influence among the club’s fans in the UK and on the territory of Europe.
- Author
Olivia Cole
