Betfred to bid for Ladbrokes’ Irish subsidiary

British bookmaker Betfred is understood to have expressed interest in bidding for Ladbrokes' troubled Irish business.

Ladbrokes Ireland plans to close 60 of its 196 betting shops and cut 250 of its 850 jobs under a rescue plan being prepared by High Court-appointed examiner Ken Fennell of Deloitte.

Irish competitor Boylesports has launched a competing bid for the chain that will see it invest an eight-figure sum in the business, and which it says will result in fewer closures and job losses.

It is understood Betfred may have expressed interest in Ladbrokes Ireland since it was put in examinership in April.

Lawyers for Mr Fennell told the High Court earlier this week that a third bidder – other than Ladbrokes Ireland's UK-based parent and Boylesports – had expressed interest in the company.

Mystery bidder

Sources have named Betfred as the third bidder, although they have questioned whether its approach is going to turn into a firm offer. A spokesman for Betfred had no comment yesterday.

Betfred is based in Warrington, Cheshire. It is owned by brothers Fred and Peter Done, who established it in the late 1960s.

The company owns 1,375 betting shops and has a digital arm. It took £8 billion sterling worth of bets from its customers in 2013, resulting in earnings of £69 million. It has no bookie shops in Ireland but it does have a small number of digital subscribers.

Meanwhile, Ladbrokes and Mr Fennell are set to argue that the group’s existing rescue proposals are preferable to those put forward by Boylesports when the issue comes before the High Court on Friday.

Boylesports is challenging the examinership on the grounds that it is simply designed to ensure that Ladbrokes Ireland remains under its current ownership.

It also claims that it has not been given access to information it needs to formulate a bid for the chain of bookmakers.

Ladbrokes will claim a takeover by Boylesports will result in a similar number of shop closures and redundancies as are proposed by its rescue plan.