William Hill putting final touches to flotation.

Financial News, May, 2002

Executive board members of William Hill are to meet today to complete plans for a flotation of the betting company in what is likely to be one of the biggest UK new issues this year. The flotation - originally scheduled to be announced formally on Monday - had been approved by William Hill's owners, CVC and Cinven, the UK-based private equity firms. It could value the group at up to [pound]1.4bn ([euro]2.24bn).

But several William Hill executives are understood to have voiced concerns about the new issues market and are believed to have pressed for a board meeting to review the process.

CVC and Cinven acquired William Hill for [pound]835m from Nomura, the Japanese bank, in 1999. The two venture capital firms may retain a stake after the IPO.