SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Following its commentary invitation and review of the merger of Paddy Power – Betfair, the UK Competition & Markets Authority (UK CMA) has officially cleared the £6.2 billion deal.
The Paddy Power-Betfair merger clears its most important regulatory hurdle, which had been placed under review by the UK CMA in November and opened to public and industry commentary.
The approval means the UK CMA will not subject the deal to a longer, phase two investigation, which would have taken up to 90 working days.
Paddy Power and Betfair governances remain on course to complete the planned merger deal by Q1 2014.
Issuing a short statement on Friday 27 November, Paddy Power Plc and Betfair Group Ltd had both announced that the planned £6.2 billion merger deal will be put to vote on 21 December should the deal clear its UK CMA review.
Both operators are now set to host ‘extraordinary meetings’ in which investors will cast their votes on whether to progress the merger.
On Tuesday the Irish Times reported that Betfair investors were urged by shareholder group Pensions & Investment Research Consultants to vote in favour of the deal at a investor extraordinary meeting.
