Rank Group To Focus On Gaming

Published: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

RANK GROUP TO FOCUS ON GAMING

Famous Hard Rock restaurant chain could be up for sale


Online and land gambling interests of the British group Rank such as Blue Square could get a boost as the group focuses on bingo and casino businesses and possibly sells off the famous Hard Rock restaurant chain.

The British business press were speculating on the possibility of a GBP 500 million attempt to sell Hard Rock Cafe after the new chief executive at Rank, Ian Burke indicated the prospect by announcing that Merril Lynch had been hired to help Rank "review the potential strategic options for Hard Rock, to assess whether or not it should remain part of the Rank Group".

Analysts seemed confident that Hard Rock would either be sold or spun off through a US stock market listing, valuing the business in the range GBP 450 million and GBP 540 million.

A spokesman for Rank, which in recent years has sold a string of businesses, including Butlin's, Warner Holidays and Odeon Cinemas, said that Burke had recognised that there were "limited synergies between a cafe business and casinos and bingo clubs", although he suggested that if Rank wanted to develop its gaming ambitions outside the UK, the Hard Rock brand might be worth retaining.

If Rank decides to sell the business, it may seek to hold on to the Hard Rock brand for use on British casinos under a licensing agreement. Rank is believed already to have fielded several informal approaches for the restaurant chain from private equity firms.

Media reports claim that Burke is looking at ways of using the proceeds of disposals to beef up Rank's gambling presence. In addition to bidding for some of the new land casino licences up for grabs under the new Gambling Act, he is understood to be keen to make further Internet gambling acquisitions, having informally sounded out online operators, including 888 Holdings.