Amaya tells Will Hill shareholder where to stick its Ebitda cash conversion
Canadian online gambling company has hit back at William Hill shareholder claims about its business after merger talks between the companies collapsed.
Last week, after Will Hill confirmed talks between the companies, the UK company’s largest shareholder, Parvus Asset Management, said a deal would have “limited strategic logic and would destroy shareholder value”.
Read more: Bets off: William Hill ends merger talks with online gambling group Amaya
Former William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping backed the Parvus statement, which also said: “Effectively, you're buying an overvalued asset using an undervalued currency.”
Parvus also suggested that the firm’s core business of online poker was the least attractive segment with online gambling, according to Reuters.
After William Hill said the talks had ended, following shareholder consultation, Amaya put out a statement rebutting claims made against it.
The Canadian company defended its poker business:
It is simply not true to say that poker is a mature or declining market based upon certain public data which under-reports the size and growth of the poker market.
Hit back at claims it is difficult to “cross-sell poker players other online gaming products”:
Read more: William Hill keeps its bets on merger talks with Amaya despite opposition
In fact, Amaya has seen success in cross-selling its online casino and sports betting products while increasing the lifetime values of cross-sold customers.
And defended its financial performance:
Claims that our cash conversion of Ebitda is around 39 per cent is factually incorrect as it included the change in player balances.