GVC Holdings, one of the biggest UK-based online gambling companies, has put forward an offer to buy high street-based Ladbrokes Coral.
GVC, which boasts 79 million registered accounts and operates in 21 languages through names such as sportingbet and partypoker, previously bought bwin.party in 2016.
The proposed takeover would give it access to the Ladbrokes, Coral and Gala brands and the combined company would compete with William Hill (WMH.L) and Paddy Power Betfair (PPB.I).
The two groups said in a joint statement on Thursday they were in detailed talks over a deal that would give Ladbrokes shareholders around 46.5 percent of the combined group.
Shares in the 230-year-old Ladbrokes jumped 26 percent in early trading, while GVC shares rose 6 percent on confirmation of the long-rumoured offer, which is in cash and shares.
The final price will depend on the outcome of a government review into fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). The machines are big moneyspinners for companies like Ladbrokes but they have come under fire for leaving gamblers with very heavy losses.
“The enlarged group would be an online-led globally positioned betting and gaming business that would benefit from a multi-brand, multi-channel strategy applied across some of the strongest brands in the sector,” the companies said.
“The enlarged group would be geographically diversified with a large portfolio of businesses across both regulated and developing markets, with the scale and resources to address the dynamics of a rapidly changing global industry.”