William Hill walks away from Amaya merger talks

William Hill has embarrassingly beaten a retreat from £4.5bn merger talks initiated with Canadian online poker giant Amaya, following objections from its major shareholders.

"After canvassing views from a number of William Hill's major shareholders, the board has decided that it will not pursue discussions with Amaya," the FTSE bookmaker said, adding that it would resume its share buyback programme as a result.

Like any break-up, Amaya also implied to its shareholders that it was the active party, reporting that it no longer intended to merge and saying it "wishes the best for William Hill and its shareholders".

Keeping a brave face, Hill's assured that trading has continued to be positive in the second half of the year and that operating profit for 2016 is expected to be at the top end of the previously guided £260-280m range.

Management, currently led by chairman Gareth Davies and interim chief executive Philip Bowcock, added that they will "continue to consider strategic alternatives where they have the potential to create shareholder value".

The company's largest shareholder, Parvus Asset Management, which last week said the merger had “limited strategic logic and would destroy shareholder value”, said management should consider putting the business up for sale.

Over the weekend, the Davies and Bowcock were said to be intending to plough ahead despite the objections from Parvus, despite its hefty 14% stake in the company.

Newspaper reports suggested the bookmaker's other top shareholders had been consulted and were said to be willing to wait for further details on the merger, though this patience appeared to have run out by Tuesday morning.

Analyst Mark Brumby at Langton Capital said William Hill was "still standing in the kitchen at the party" and "will have to go it alone, for the short term at least", viewing the break-up as being down to Amaya.

He noted that Amaya's former chief executive, David Baazov, continues to be interested in acquiring all of the outstanding shares of Amaya.