US private equity firm Apollo is attempting an audacious eleventh-hour plan to take over Gala Coral, the bookmaker and bingo club group.
Although Blackstone is already trying to acquire Gala, which operates some 2,000 betting shops, 148 bingo clubs and 227 casinos, Apollo is looking to trump the rival buyout firm by submitting a proposal under which it would pay £250m in exchange for 50% of the shares in the company.
Given that Gala is £2.6 billion in debt it’s hard to shake the feeling that someone Stateside has been at the rum punch a week early. Read more.
