Betfred and Stan James to purchase Ladbrokes and Coral shops

“last significant hurdle” to the £2.7bn planned merger of Ladbrokes and Gala Coral has been cleared, with the pair having agreed to sell 359 shops to comply with the ruling of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The sale of a total of 359 shops has been agreed, with Betfred to purchase 322 shops for £55m, and Stan James to take 37 for a cash consideration of £500,000, with the intention being that the £55.5m received will be used to repay debt.

Ladbrokes has confirmed that the 359 shops to be sold generated fully costed EBITDA of £16.8m in the year to 31 December 2015.

A total of 185 shops are to be sold by Ladbrokes, while Gala Coral is letting go of 174 locations.

The CMA will now assess the shop sales, with the merger to be completed upon its approval and the sale of one further shop.

Jim Mullen, Chief Executive of Ladbrokes, said: “The sale of these shops will clear the last significant hurdle to delivering on the merger with Coral and paves the way for our focus on completion and quickly delivering on the opportunities the merger offers.”