Today, UK casino, betting and gaming operators Ladbrokes and Gala Coral officially announced that they have finalised their merger. The newly formed company changed its name to Ladbrokes Coral Group Plc and announced that Ladbrokes finally managed to complete its merger with certain business of Gala Coral, including the company’s Retail division, Europet Retail and the online businesses of Gala.
The Chief Executive Officer of the new entity – Jim Mullen – commented on the announcement, describing the day as a historic one for the company. He explained that during the process of negotiation, both operators had proved their determination to expand in competitive markets. Mr. Mullen also revealed that the combined company’s future strategy would remain the same and everyone at Ladbrokes Coral were excited with the new opportunities available.
The merger took effect at 8:00 AM on November 1st and followed the announcements on October 27th and October 31th that the two companies had been given the green light from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Apart from the changes in the management team that were deployed with the merger’s completion, Ladbrokes Coral also announced some actions in terms of its Existing Ordinary Shares and Consideration Shares.
As for the company’s management, as revealed earlier, Jim Mullen is to remain at the position of Chief Executive Officer of the merged entity. Carl Leaver becomes Executive Deputy Chairman. The position of Chief Financial Officer is occupied by Paul Bowtell, and Rob Templeman has been appointed as Non-Executive Director of the Group.
The Executive Deputy Chairman of Ladbrokes Coral Carl Leaver said that the entire team of Gala Coral had worked in order to change the company’s unlucky fortunes over the last several years and their efforts ended up with making sure that the company had become one of the best performing ones in the gambling business as a whole. According to him, new opportunities for both companies would be brought thanks to the merger agreement with Ladbrokes. According to him, the newly formed company would consolidate its positions on as a leader on the UK gaming and betting industry under the leadership of CEO Jim Mullen.
John Kelly, Chairman at Ladbrokes Coral also shared his opinion on the two companies’ merger. According to him, both brands brought a strong heritage to form a company with a strong presence in the UK gambling market and in foreign regulated markets.
- Author
Olivia Cole
