BOOKIE Fred Done said he would be interested in buying the Tote, the Wigan-based bookmaker which the government is looking to sell.

Mr Done, boss of Warrington-based BetFred, said: “It’s certainly something we will look at. The Tote would give us 1,350 shops and there would be plenty of synergy savings to be had. I think it fits our group better than any other and if the government is ready to talk, we are ready to talk.”

Gordon Brown’s pledge to offload the Tote is the latest instalment in an eight-year struggle to transfer the firm into private ownership.

Goldman Sachs, hired to oversee the sale, has reportedly valued the Tote at between £200m and £300m, well down on the £400m submitted in 2007 by a consortium of racecourse owners.

This offer was turned down by the government because it was backed by private equity.

BetFred was among a clutch of firms which eyed the Tote at that time – the others included Gala Coral, Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and William Hill.

Ladbrokes is among those to have expressed interest in making an offer for the business again.

A Ladbrokes spokesman said: “Potentially we would be interested but it would depend on the structure of the deal.”

The Tote posted gross profits of £155.8m for the year to the end of March, down 4.7 per cent as its telephone betting division suffered a slowdown. It operates 540 high street outlets and internet arm totesport.com

Source: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
 

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