Amaya hires William Hill exec to lead M&A push
Robin Chhabra, who worked on a number of Hills’ acquisitions, will lead Amaya’s efforts to land a sportsbook deal
Amaya has hired William Hill group director of strategy and corporate development, Robin Chhabra, to lead the Canadian operator’s ongoing M&A efforts, EGR Intel has learned.
Chhabra is expected to join Toronto-listed Amaya later this year – in September according to one source – having recently played a leading role in the attempted merger between the two operators.
Amaya CEO Rafi Ashkenazi is said to have been impressed by Chhabra during the negotiations, which ended in October following public criticism of the deal from William Hill’s major shareholder Parvus Asset Management.
A number of sources have since confirmed that Chhabra, who worked on Hills’ acquisitions of Sportingbet and TomWaterhouse.com, will take up the M&A strategy role Amaya is recruiting for.
Chhabra is expected to join Amaya in September
Ashkenazi recently told Bloomberg he would be hiring someone to focus on M&A, with the “highest priority” on sports betting.
Amaya is looking to invigorate its struggling BetStars brand, which recorded revenues of just $7m in Q4 and is expected to account for 3% of overall Amaya revenues in 2017.
And the addition of Chhabra to the Amaya fold will add fuel to speculation that a deal between the PokerStars owner and William Hill may be back on the cards.
Last week, Ashkenazi also told Bloomberg “you can never say that anything is dead” when questioned on Hills, and that “sometimes companies need time to reflect before they reengage in discussions”.
Chhabra joined William Hill in May 2010 to help set up its corporate development office and oversee key projects including acquisitions, integrations and business development.
Prior to joining Hills, he was director of corporate development at Inspired Gaming Group for three years, and previously director of equity research at Investec.
Amaya and William Hill declined to comment on this story.