SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Irish Independent has reported this weekend that Betfred is set to win its bid to acquire 360 betting shops from the £2.3 billion Ladbrokes-Coral merger.
The Manchester-based firm is reported to have pipped Irish independent bookmaker Boylesports for the Ladbrokes-Coral retail inventory which was put up for sale in order to meet UK CMA competition standards.
As the Ladbrokes-Coral merger nears its final stages, Betfred’s bid is the frontrunner to land the properties beating Boylesports reported €118 million bid.
At present, Betfred a UK ‘Big 4’ highstreet bookmaker currently holds a retail portfolio of 1370 betting shops.
Since the official announcement of the Ladbrokes and Gala Coral merger in June 2015, Betfred founder Fred Done has made little secret of his firm’s intentions to purchase Ladbrokes-Coral real-estate, following the merged enterprise competition review.
In May the UK markets authority had ordered Ladbrokes and Coral governances to begin to sell off some its retail assets as the review had identified +600 areas across the UK where the merger could harm competition.
The Irish Independent expects an official announcement regarding Ladbrokes-Coral betting shops within the coming days.
