British bookmakers Ladbrokes and Gala Coral on Friday agreed a merger between the two companies with an estimated value of £2.3 billion ($3.4 billion). The merger will create a business with the largest high street presence and the potential to become one of the biggest players in the online gambling market.
Ladbrokes told the market on Friday that it was issuing new ordinary shares to current Gala Coral shareholders representing 48.25% of the newly formed company. Existing Ladbrokes shareholders will own 51.75% on the same basis.
Both Ladbrokes and Coral, which includes the Gala gaming brand have significant online operations. All parties run stand-alone casinos with a full-suite of Playtech slots and well as various other slots developers such as IGT, NetEnt and Barcrest.
The new merged company will be called Ladbrokes Coral and will be run by current Ladbrokes CEO Jim Mullen. The two firms had announced talks of a merger last month.