William Hill Shareholders Support Acquisition of Playtech Stake in WHO

At William Hill's Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held this week, a grand majority of its shareholders voted in favor of two resolutions - the acquisition of Genuity Services Limited's (Playtech) 29 percent stake in William Hill Online (WHO) and the William Hill Online Long Term Incentive Plan 2008. The company therefore specified that a total of 524,489,385 shares were voted in favor of the Proposed Acquisition resolution, which is 100.00 percent of the votes cast, while 520,535,797 shares were voted in favor of the Long Term Incentive Plan resolution, aka 98.93 percent of the votes cast. Furthermore, the group announced plans to raise approximately GBP 375 million (net of expenses) through a 2 for 9 Rights Issue of 156,871,900 New Ordinary Shares at a price of 245 pence per share which, together with some GBP 50 million from the 2012 Bridge Credit Facility, will be used to finance the acquisition and keep the Group's capital structure at a reliable level. According to Ralph Topping, Chief Executive of William Hill, "We are pleased to have received such clear shareholder support for this transaction. Taking full ownership of William Hill Online is an important strategic step for William Hill as we continue to develop our online business, which plays a key part in our growth strategy."