Rank agrees £179 million buyout of Gala Casinos

The Rank Group have announced an agreement to purchase 19 casinos of the 23 from Gala Coral Group for £179 million.

Rank said that Gala Coral’s casinos in Aberdeen, Bristol, Cardiff, Stockton-On-Tees and Gibraltar, its non-operating licences for the City of Westminster, London, and Dundee, its branded online casino activities and all of the central management functions previously associated with Gala Coral’s casino business are not included in the acquisition.

Rank also confirmed that the transfer of the Gala workforce for those casinos totaling 2,200 would be part of the agreement, at present ensuring there is no redundancies; however in the long term that situation is unsure.

In May 2012, Rank announced that it had conditionally agreed to acquire Gala Casinos from Gala Coral. That conditional agreement envisaged Rank purchasing 23 casinos and three non-operating casino licences. However the Office of Fair Trading referred the Proposed Acquisition to the Competition Commission for an in-depth merger review and, as a result, the original agreement lapsed. In February 2013, the Competition Commission published its final report following its review of the Proposed Acquisition. That report recommended the revised number that Rank could purchase without opposition.

The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2013.