Rank Group hits out at William Hill over its takeover rebuff

Rank and 888’s attempts at a “friendly” takeover of William Hill have descended into rancour as Rank’s chief executive slated the bookmaker and called its opposition to the approach “nonsense”.

The two firms, merging themselves to pull off the deal, are offering 364p in cash and shares and have identified savings putting a potential £3.2 billion price-tag on Hills, which sacked its chief executive last month.

The bookmaker says the approach “substantially undervalues” it and has refused talks.

Rank chief executive Henry Birch said: “If you are a William Hill shareholder I can’t believe they are particularly happy at the moment in terms of performance. They’ve got a leadership void in the company... [and] their results last week weren’t exactly stellar.”

He added: “They have painted our approach as highly speculative and opportunistic, which is nonsense.”

One analyst said the complex three-way tie-up “has echoes of a Carlos Tevez transfer saga”, where the player’s deals were plagued by third-party ownership.