William Hill rallies as Parvus opposes Amaya deal

William Hill rallied after shareholder Parvus Asset Management said late on Thursday that it opposed the bookmaker’s £4.5bn merger with Canada’s Amaya.

Parvus, which owns a 14% stake in the company, said the deal had “limited strategic logic and would destroy shareholder value”.

It added that William Hill should consider a sale of the company.

Liberum, which rates the stock at ‘hold’, said it was hard to see how the deal can progress against this backdrop, although it noted Hill’s board is only at early stages of discussions and will almost certainly want to continue if they could eventually recommend a deal.

“What is clear is that Parvus have hung up the ‘For Sale’ sign at Hills and the company remains ‘in play’.

“In our view £100m of synergies with any potential partner pushes the share price towards 400p or beyond if a bid premium materialises.”

At 0918 BST, the shares were up 3.5% to 309.33p.