Ladbrokes Shareholders Back Gala Coral Merger

On Tuesday, the smattering of private shareholders who braved the rain and the early start made do with Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond, who made a rare public appearance at the Brewery to oppose the bookmaker’s £2bn merger with rival Coral.

A majority 96% of the company’s shareholders voted in favour of the deal, with just 3.6% opposing it.

HIGH-PROFILE Ladbrokes shareholder Dermot Desmond has upped his attack on the company’s board and management on the same day fellow investors voted in favour of the Gala Coral merger by a massive margin.

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Speaking in London at the meeting, Desmond set out his opposition to the merger.

Desmond said one option would be to convene another shareholders meeting, for which he would need the support of the holders of 5 percent of the shares.

Of Ladbroke’s intention to merge with Coral, Mr Desmond said that there can be “no doubt that this agreement has been badly negotiated by Ladbrokes”, questioning the decision to pay Israeli software firm Playtech, Ladbroke’s single biggest shareholder, £75m in settlement and its failure to disclose the basis for the payment. He told media that shareholders and the company as a whole would once again fall victim of “management ineptitude”, calling board members’ performance over the past several years “abysmal”.

He is concerned about the levels of debt Ladbrokes is taking on to complete the deal. According to gaming analysts, Ladbrokes may have to sell or close up to 1,000 shops, which, in turn, would results in lost earnings of more than £70 million.

” In truth, the scale and cost of these disposals is totally unknown. This is not the announcement of a takeover but Ladbrokes at 30p might be good value”. “What is known, however, is that it is unlikely in those circumstances that Ladbrokes, as a forced seller, will match the price being paid to GalaCoral”. According to Mr. Desmond, shareholders voted in favor of the merger out of frustration with the company’s current management team and board members. Paddy Power Plc agreed to acquire Betfair Group Plc for 2.87 billion pounds, while GVC Holdings Plc is buying Bwin.party Digital Entertainment Plc for about 1.12 billion pounds.