Rank updates on Gala Casinos acquisition

Rank Group plc has released an update on its bid to acquire Gala Casinos Limited, reporting that delays in achieving Competition Commission approval could impact the agreement.

On 12 May 2012 Rank announced that it had conditionally agreed to acquire Gala Casinos from Gala Coral Group Limited for a total cash consideration of GBP 205 million .

The acquisition was conditional upon the approval of Rank shareholders (which was obtained at a general meeting of Rank held on 26 July 2012) and upon receipt of UK merger control clearance by 19 September 2012.

On 20 August 2012 the Office of Fair Trading announced that it had referred the acquisition agreement to the UK Competition Commission, and that as a result the agreement will not become unconditional by the 19 September 2012 deadline.

The company now advises that due to these factors the agreement relating to the acquisition will cease to be formally binding on the parties at midnight on Wednesday 19 September 2012.

The update concludes: “Rank and Gala Coral Group are nevertheless continuing to assist the Competition Commission with its inquiry and are continuing their discussions in relation to appropriate amendments to the acquisition terms in the light of the reference to the Competition Commission.  A further announcement will be made in due course.”

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