William Hill plc (LON:WMH) has announced the successful pricing of the placing of new ordinary shares of 10p each in the share capital of the Company announced yesterday.
A total of 174,872,457 new ordinary shares in the Company will be issued at a price of 128 pence per share, raising gross proceeds of approximately £224 million.
A total of 169,111,584 new ordinary shares in the Company have been placed with institutional investors by Barclays Bank PLC and Citigroup Global Markets Limited at the Placing Price. Citi and Barclays are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners in respect of the Placing.
In conjunction with the Placing, directors and members of the senior management team of the Company have subscribed for an aggregate of 160,013 new ordinary shares in the capital of the Company, at the Placing Price, pursuant to subscription letters entered into by such directors and members of the senior management team. In addition, retail and other investors have subscribed in the offer made by the Company via the PrimaryBid platform for a total of 5,600,860 new ordinary shares in the capital of the Company at the Placing Price.
The Placing Shares, Subscription Shares and Retail Shares being issued together represent approximately 19.99 per cent of the Company’s issued share capital immediately prior to the Placing, Subscription and Retail Offer (excluding treasury shares). The Placing Price represents a discount of approximately 7.8 per cent to the middle market closing price on 16 June 2020.
William Hill consulted with a number of its major shareholders prior to the Placing and has respected the principles of pre-emption through the allocation process insofar as possible. The Company is pleased by the strong support it has received from new and existing shareholders, including retail shareholders via the Retail Offer.
Applications have been made to the Financial Conduct Authority and London Stock Exchange plc respectively for the admission of the Placing Shares, Subscription Shares and the Retail Shares to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the LSE. It is expected that Admission will become effective on or before 8.00 a.m. on 19 June 2020. The Placing and the Subscription are each conditional upon, amongst other things, Admission becoming effective and upon the placing agreement not being terminated in accordance with its terms. The Retail Offer is also conditional upon Admission becoming effective and upon the placing agreement not being terminated in accordance with its terms.
The Placing Shares, Subscription Shares and Retail Shares will, when issued, be credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares (other than treasury shares which are non-voting and do not qualify for dividends), including the right to receive all dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid in respect of Ordinary Shares after the date of issue.
Following Admission, the total number of shares in issue in the Company will be 1,075,598,163 (including 26,363,418 treasury shares). Therefore, following Admission, the total number of voting shares in William Hill in issue will be 1,049,234,745.
Director participation
The following Directors and other persons discharging managerial responsibilities and / or persons closely associated with them, have subscribed for a total of 157,670 Subscription Shares, at the Placing Price, as follows:
| Name | Number of Subscription Shares |
| Roger Devlin | 17,968 |
| Ulrik Bengtsson | 30,000 |
| Matt Ashley | 85,000 |
| Mark Brooker | 2,734 |
| Robin Terrell | 2,468 |
| Gordon Wilson | 7,000 |
| Simon Callander | 12,500 |
