William Hill Acquires Australia’s Tom Waterhouse

William Hill has agreed to purchase the Australian online betting firm Tom Waterhouse for a minimum of £20 million.

The move continues William Hill’s recent aggressive expansion over the past few months which has included spending almost £900 million to take full control of its online operations and buy its rival gambling company Sportingbet to give it access to the Australian market.

William Hill has agreed to pay £20 million up front and assume £3.5 million in debt for tomwaterhouse.com. It will also pay up to £40 million more on a sliding scale based on tomwaterhouse.com achieving earnings growth between £6 million and $17 million in 2015.

The CEO of William Hill, Ralph Topping, said, “We are pleased to have secured this acquisition. International expansion is a key part of our growth strategy and making Australia our second home is a priority. The Sportingbet acquisition gave us a strong and proven platform with an experienced management team. Acquiring tomwaterhouse.com gives us a rapidly growing business that appeals to a complementary customer base.We are bringing together some of the best talent in the bookmaking industry into one formidable team. I’m impressed by Tom Waterhouse and his team, who are passionate and entrepreneurial.”