Discussions of a 
potential merger between the Canadian iGaming corporation Amaya and UK-based betting operator William Hill have come to an end. The notion of a merger has been abandoned after Parvus Asset Management, a major shareholder based in the UK, voiced its objections over the potential deal.
This news follows an earlier announcement that William Hill and Amaya had been involved in discussions around a potential union. The two companies released a statement amid these talks, with William Hill mentioning that it had been searching for ways in which to diversify the gaming products it offers its players and thus expand its ventures.
While these discussions were in progress, both Amaya and William Hill noted that these talks would not necessarily result in a business agreement being made between them. It has now been confirmed that the potential merger will not take place, nulling the all-share merger of equals that was the topic of much discussion only a few weeks ago.
Parvus Asset Management has objected to the deal based on William Hill’s would-be share in the proceedings. According to Parvus, the proposed merger would have severely under-valued betting operator William Hill, which was their grounds for strongly opposing the agreement. The asset management group currently holds around 14% equity in William Hill, giving them a considerable say in all of the operator’s prospective business ventures.
Now, William Hill will instead consider several other alternatives to pair with betting groups and better their current financial outlook. The group has experienced a noticeable drop in revenues over the past financial year, prompting them to consider a merger in order to boost their generation of revenues.
The matter of the Amaya-William Hill merger was put to rest in a statement released by William Hill. According to the statement, the William Hill board has decided that it will no longer pursue merger discussions with Amaya after canvassing views from many of the betting operator’s major shareholders.
Currently, Amaya’s financial outlook is more promising than the UK-based betting operator with whom they have been discussing a union. With that said, the company still faces a potential purchase from its former CEO David Baazov, who wishes for the company to become private once more. However, Baazov is still under investigation by Canadian authorities for insider-trading charges that emerged when Amaya purchased online poker brand, PokerStars, in 2014.
