The U.K.'s fourth-largest retail bookmaker Betfred said Monday its bid for state-owned bookmaker Tote would leave the racing industry GBP45 million better off than a bid by Martin Broughton's vehicle, Sports Investment Partners.
The company said in a statement its proposal for commercial and charitable payments to the racing industry translate to GBP45 million more over seven years than the bid from SIP.
A spokesman for SIP declined to comment.
SIP and Betfred have put forward quite different plans to buy the Tote but each puts an enterprise value of around GBP200 million on the Tote, which comprises two separate businesses--an on-racetrack pool betting service and a chain of roughly 500 retail shops together with online and telephone betting operations.
Betfred also issued a statement Sunday offering to create an advisory board with seats for the horse racing industry if its bid for the Tote was successful, in a last-ditch effort to rebuff concerns a deal for the state-owned bookmaker would give it a virtual monopoly across the sport.
Betfred's mooted development of a new advisory board is seen as an attempt to challenge criticism that SIP has the backing of the industry, after representatives from the British Horseracing Authority, Racecourse Association and the Horsemen's Group last week put their weight behind the rival bid.
SIP last week outlined its plan to float the Tote on the London AIM market with 10% of the business going to the racing industry and a further 25% to "racing friendly" investors.
Lazard Ltd. (LAZ) is advising the government on the sale.
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