GVC waives fee for sale of Turkish business

GVC Holdings is to give away its Turkish business in a move it hopes will help to smooth its planned takeover of Ladbrokes Coral Group.

In November, GVC agreed to sell its Turkish-facing operations to Ropso Malta Limited for a performance related earn-out consideration of up to €150m ($187.3m).

The deal came at a time when GVC had been linked with a takeover of Ladbrokes Coral, and the two companies have since agreed terms on a merger deal worth as much as £4bn.

Citing a prospectus for the Ladbrokes Coral deal that was published this month, the Reuters news agency said GVC has now agreed to waive its payment for the sale and would instead book a €46m loss on the company.

Reuters said that GVC lenders had raised concerns over the fact that the business would be exposed to a country in which online gambling is not legal.

According to documents seen by Reuters, Ropso took control of the Turkey unit for free on December 21.

Related articles: Ladbrokes Coral agrees £4bn takeover by GVC
GVC offloads Turkish-facing operations