888 top bidder for non-US William Hill

888 is the top bidder for William Hill’s non-US operations at £2bn, the Times of London has reported.

Apollo was the only other bidder. German sports betting operator Tipico also made a bid, which was eliminated over the weekend, and Advent International withdrew from the process.

Caesars said it would sell the non-US operations of William Hill after acquiring the company for $4bn in April. CEO Tom Reeg had said that proceeds from the sale would be far greater than the $1bn Caesars plans to invest into sports betting and igaming.

No details were disclosed, however 888 plans to provide an update soon.

William Hill operates 1,400 betting shops and online brands in the UK. Those operations have been estimated to be valued at £1.2bn to £1.5bn.

An acquisition of 11 times enterprise-value-to-EBITDA could lead to double-digit earnings per share growth and 36 per cent new shares issued for 888, James Wheatcroft of Jefferies said.

The sale price is 7.9 times this year’s EBITDA and would imply a $440m gain on the sale and would result in $2.65b in net cash proceeds for Caesars, Steve Grambling of Goldman Sachs said.