Ladbrokes and Coral Group have announced a completed merger creating a new gambling industry giant. The multi-billion-pound deal means Ladbrokes is merging with several of Gala Coral’s brands, including Coral Retail and Eurobet Retail as well as the operator’s online division.
Ladbrokes announced a change of name to Ladbrokes Coral Group plc.
Former Ladbrokes CEO, Jim Mullen, is the new company’s CEO while Coral Chief Executive, Carl Leaver, becomes Executive Deputy Chairman.
“This is a historic day for the Company and one which marks the start of an exciting journey for the business,” Mullen said in a press statement. “Both Ladbrokes and Gala Coral have demonstrated their ability to compete hard and win in increasingly competitive markets.
“This will be the attitude of the management team going forward, to compete hard and set about quickly establishing the business while delivering the synergies as quickly as possible,” he said. “We have a strong management team in place and have worked hard to secure the best talent from across both businesses and externally. We are all excited by the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Leaver said that by combining Gala Coral’s its operations with Ladbrokes’, the merged companies will be in position to fulfill their ambition of creating UK’s largest betting and gaming business.
Ladbrokes Coral owns the UK’s largest chain of betting shops. The company manages around 1,700 high street outlets around the nation.
Those betting shops contributed to a lengthy 18-month negotiation of the merger as the UK Competition and Markets Authority conducted a review of the deal and ordered the group to sell about 400 retail facilities to protect competition.
Last month, Ladbrokes and Coral announced that they would sell 360 betting shops, a move that was approved by the CMA last week.
In its initial merger prospectus, Ladbrokes and Coral said the merged companies will target between £60-70 in short term cost synergies. UK business news sources have reported that 700 jobs could be at risk following the merger.
Ladbrokes Coral is trading on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LCL. The company was brought to life with a market capitalization of about £2.6 billion.
