William Hill: Caesars Palace-owner in 'innovative' talks over ₤ 2.9 bn offer

Caesars Entertainment, the Las Vegas casino-owner, says it remains in sophisticated takeover talks with William Hill over a possible ₤ 2.9 bn bid for the yohaig code bookmaker.

The US firm stated William Hill's board had actually shown it is minded to recommend its money deal of 272p a share.

William Hill has actually also gotten a takeover method from US private equity company Apollo.

But Caesars said if William Hill selected Apollo, it would jeopardise a joint venture between the business.

Caesars chief executive Tom Reeg said: "The opportunity to combine our land based-casinos, sports wagering and online video gaming in the US is a truly amazing possibility.

"William Hill's sports wagering expertise will complement Caesars' current offering, allowing the combined group to much better serve our customers in the fast growing US sports wagering and online market."

On Friday, William Hill validated that it had actually gotten 2 takeover approaches, which sent its share price skyrocketing by 42% to 312p.

Caesars stated its deal was almost 58% higher than William Hill's share price on the day before the US company made its very first approach on 2 September.

It added it was also above the betting business's share rate on Thursday last week, before its disclosure of the 2 techniques triggered its share rate to rise.

But David Cumming, primary investment officer for equities at Aviva Investors, stated offers for William Hill might overtake the 312p level its shares ended at on Friday.

He informed the BBC's Today program: "The view is - and we do hold some William Hill so it [has] some interest here - the 40% increase on Friday, offered relative in the US, it is possible that the quote is available in at a greater level than the closing cost we saw then so there still might be some advantage."

Apollo - which is also one of two firms in the last going to buy UK supermarket Asda - is yet to release details of its possible deal for William Hill.

However, Mr Cumming said he believed Caesars was the most likely victor "since it already owns 20% of William Hill's US service and so it should have some synergies".