Rank drops bid for Gala’s casinos

Rank Group has dropped its £250 million bid for Gala Coral’s casino business.

Rank – a major bingo and casino operator – pulled out of talks to buy the casino operations of Gala Coral in a deal that would have turned the business into the UK’s largest casino operator. After two months of discussions Rank has ended talks after failing to agree a price that would have been acceptable to its shareholders.

Those looking for a betting bonus note how Gala Coral owns 24 casinos nationwide, but the company is plagued by debts. The company announced that it was in talks with Rank in January this year but this week it was clear that discussions had been ended after both parties failed to agree terms.

Ian Burke, Rank chairman and chief executive, said that the proposed terms did not give his group’s shareholders enough value. “We will now concentrate on delivering our organic growth plans, including the delivery of 12 more G casinos by 2015.”

Rank owns 35 casinos and 103 bingo halls in Britain, including the Grosvenor Casinos chain. The deal would have seen Rank overtake Genting as the biggest firm in the sector.

Rank, which has about £30 million in net cash, would have funded the deal with a mixture of cash and debt. Those regularly using a each way calculator might note how the company is attempting to broaden its customer base, especially women and under 35s.

Gala Coral also blamed the price for the breakdown in talks. A spokesman for the company said: “Our casino business was not for sale when Rank made an unsolicited approach. Now that it is clear that a transaction on terms acceptable to our shareholders cannot be concluded, we are very happy to continue to drive growth from our casinos which are performing very strongly.”