The Rank Group Faces Buyout Offer from Majority Shareholder

Reports out of the UK and Hong Kong suggest that Rank Group, one of the UK’s largest public gaming companies, could be sold for privatization.  Majority Shareholder Quek Lang Chen, through his Hong Kong based company Guoco Group, controls 74.5 percent of the Rank Group’s shares.  Chen has offered an estimated £660 million to buy the remaining shares of the company in order to privatize its operations.

The Rank Group operates over 30 Grosvenor Casinos throughout the UK, as well as the popular Blue Square online casino that provides gamers slots, poker, and sportsbetting platforms.  The Rank Group also has over 100 Mecca Bingo clubs in major cities across the UK, along with eBingo sites that are affiliates of the Mecca Bingo brand name.  The size of the Rank Group and the profitability of its many gaming operations have provided all shareholders lucrative income as investors in the company.

Chen’s offer is an effort to take The Rank Group out of public investment through the stock market and privatize the company in one big buyout.  Chen’s Guoco Group released a statement about the proposed buyout stating it would “provide the offer group with greater flexibility to support its future business development”.  However, that future development would take control and chief operations of The Rank Group out of the UK, putting in question the future of its UK based casinos.

The offer may be Chen’s attempt to inject some capital into the Guoco Group, which reported a net loss of 1.29 billion Hong Kong dollars for the year ending in June.  Despite the company’s struggles Chen is reportedly worth just under £2.5 billion.