Assignment scenario:

The case study is a takeover bid by Caesars of William Hill for £2.9 billion – You may make use of newspaper sources (Caesars agrees £2.9bn William Hill takeover - but will sell off UK betting shops | Business News | Sky News), company websites, bid document and stock market data, but the annual reports for 2019 & 2020 should be the main source of financial data (https://www.williamhillplc.com/historical-investor-centre/resultsreports-and-presentations/2021/).

1) Present ONE slide for each:

a. strategic/market (competitor) analysis (rationale for takeover)

b. analysis of the business, financial and specific takeover risks

c. preliminary financial analysis, stating the assumptions required to value the target company using DCF analysis (revenue growth, profit margin, cost of capital etc.)

2) A business valuation, based on recent financial performance, calculate the equity value of William Hill to justify the bid price offered by Caesars. Explain your methods and justify your assumptions for forecast performance under new ownership. You should append 2 screenshots from a spreadsheet model (results & formulae) to your report

3) Comparison. Identify another recent business takeover of your choice (from any sector). Outline the case and explain why there may have been different issues in that case and hence different assumptions made in their business valuation

4) Write a critique of business valuation methods and relevant research, explaining why any anticipated bidder gains may not come to fruition, especially given the economic crisis due to Covid-19. Refer to relevant research and cite journal articles to support your discussion

5) A learning (b)log (using the template provided) to reflect on what you have learnt from each session (at least 8), including reference to Moodle materials, showing how you have applied this learning to the assessment task, to be appended to your report

6) A supporting bibliography and professional style of report (presentation).