Gala Coral Eurobet
The Gala Coral Group incorporates the brands Coral, Eurobet, Gala Bingo and Gala Casinos. They aim to provide high volume and low stake gaming leisure. The Group is the first in the UK to operate bookmaking, bingo and casinos on the high street as well as online. The group employs over 19,000 staff and has full GamCare accreditation for all the UK divisions. Gala Coral’s involvement in the community is also ranges from sponsoring national charities, to endorsing employer supported volunteering with Business in the Community ‘Cares’ partnerships and the ‘Right to Read’ scheme. Great pride is taken in their extensive Corporate and Social Responsibility strategies.
1997 saw a management buy-in purchase 130 Gala Bingo Clubs from Bass.
In 2003 the Gala Group made its first transition into the casino sector when it acquired 26 Ladbrokes Casinos from the Hilton Group. This was a major influence on Galas market position in the low stake – high volume area of the UK gambling market.
Date Gala Coral press releases. 07 October 2005 Cinven backs Gala in £2.18 billion acquisition of Coral Eurobet 19 August 2005 Cinven sells stake in Gala 28 January 2005 Gala refinancing returns £275 million to shareholders 07 February 2003 Cinven backs €1.87 billion buyout of Gala Group. Coral Eurobet was then sold in a further management buy out in September 2002, which was backed by Charterhouse Development Capital. 13 In October 2005, Coral Eurobet was acquired for £2.18 billion by casino and bingo firm Gala, which changed its name to Gala Coral Group, creating the United Kingdom's third largest bookmaker and largest.
In February 2003 Candover and Cinven, private equity firms, acquired the Group for £1.24 billion. In August 2005, Permira purchased further stake in the company valuing the company at £1.9 billion.
Coral Eurobet was acquired by the Group in 2005, January 2006 saw the Group acquiring Leo Casino in Liverpool which increased the number of casinos in their control to 31. There are 171 IIP accredited Gala Bingo Clubs (making up one third of the bingo market and employing 6000 staff) and 1600 licensed betting offices.
Gala Coral also operates on continental Europe and has recently established an Italian betting business.
Gala Coral Group
UK casino firm Gala is buying up Coral Eurobet for £2.18bn ($3.87bn), in a move which will create Europe's biggest privately-owned gaming group.Gala's casinos and bingo halls will be merged with Coral's betting shops and dog tracks.
The enlarged empire will be worth more than £4bn, with more than 2.2 million customers visiting 1,450 outlets.
Gala chief executive Neil Goulden said betting and bingo would benefit from deregulation.
Gala Coral Eurobet Club
Both firms also have a strong presence on the internet, which Mr Goulden said would be the biggest advantage of merging.
'We are going to combine their Eurobet business with our fledgling interactive business - internet, TV and telephone betting,' said Mr Goulden.
'Competitive threat'
Additionally, casinos will soon be allowed to advertise and stringent membership rules will be loosened.
'This is a great vehicle to take advantage of deregulation, with a full suite of assets that will benefit,' said analysts Robin Chhabra at Evolution Securities.
'It is a competitive threat to other players like William Hill and Rank, but it's only mildly negative for them.'
Coral is 16%-owned by management and 84%-owned by buy-out firm Charterhouse, having been previously owned by Ladbrokes and Morgan Grenfell private equity.
In August this year it announced it was considering a stock market flotation but did not rule out a sale at the time.
Since Charterhouse backed the management buy-out in 2002 Coral's annual operating profits have more than doubled to £145m on sales of £5.4bn.