Ladbrokes, Sportingbet Tie-up Talks Fail On Turkey Issues
LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. bookmaker Ladbrokes PLC (LAD.LN) and online gaming group Sportingbet PLC (SBT.LN) have mutually terminated takeover talks amid concerns about legacy liabilities from Sportingbet's Turkish operations, Ladbrokes Chief Executive Richard Glynn said Monday.
Ladbrokes had been in preliminary discussions to buy Sportingbet since June 23, but Glynn told a conference call that there is "not a structure we could agree on that gives our shareholders an acceptable level of look-back and look-forward regulatory risk in respect to Turkey."
"That's not to say there wouldn't be other jurisdictions where similar issues may have arisen," he added, but the company ...