Ashurst and Osborne Clarke have both won key roles advising on Gala Coral’s £241m sale of Gala Bingo to Caledonia Investments.
Gala Bingo has a 38 per cent market share in the UK’s retail bingo market and has 1.1m active members. The sale involves 130 of the company’s bingo clubs.
Ashurst advised Gala Coral during the deal with a team led by global co-head of corporate Simon Beddow and corporate partner Karen Davies. Partner Alex Cox provided tax advice while Mark Lubbock handled IP-related issues.
Gala Coral also turned to Fieldfisher head of hotels and leisure Paul Houston, who handled real estate matters.
Browne Jacobson provided Gala Coral with corporate finance advice. The team consisted of partners Mark Hughes, Gavin Cummings, Emma Hinton and associate Beth Dowson. Ashurst’s finance team was also involved through partner Helen Burton.
Osborne Clarke advised Caledonia Investments on the deal. Corporate partner Mark Spinner led the team with assistance from partners Nadine Strahl, Brent Wright and Russell Bowyer.
Background to the deal
The sale is the latest in a number of high profile deals in which Ashurst has advised Gala Coral. The latest saw the firm advising Gala during its recent merger talks with rival gaming company Ladbrokes. The combination would create a new company with turnover in excess of £1bn.
The firm also advised Gala on its £205m sale of Gala Casinos to Rank Group in 2012. Both deals were led by Ashurst’s Beddow.
In 2013 Osborne Clarke advised Caledonia Investments on its acquisition of Choice Care Homes from funds managed by Sovereign Capital. The sale was valued at £86m and saw Spinner once again lead the Osborne CLarke team.
