Dunstall owner in £100m talks
Arena Leisure, the racecourse owner aiming to build a casino at its Wolverhampton track, was today said to be in talks to buy out Chepstow racecourse in a £100 million deal. Arena Leisure, the racecourse owner aiming to build a casino at its Wolverhampton track, was today said to be in talks to buy out Chepstow racecourse in a £100 million deal. According to reports, Arena is in exclusive talks with Chepstow owners Northern Racing, freezing out other potential bidders such as Icelandic bank Kaupthing and billionaire property investors David and Simon Reuben, who own stakes in both businesses. Arena is the UK's biggest racecourse business, controlling Lingfield, Doncaster and Windsor as well as Wolverhampton. Read the full story in the Express & Star.
According to reports, Arena is in exclusive talks with Chepstow owners Northern Racing, freezing out other potential bidders such as Icelandic bank Kaupthing and billionaire property investors David and Simon Reuben, who own stakes in both businesses.
Arena is the UK's biggest racecourse business, controlling Lingfield, Doncaster and Windsor as well as Wolverhampton.
The Black Country racecourse at Dunstall Park is in line for a £23 million revamp including a new leisure complex with a swimming pool, as well as expanding the existing hotel from 54 bedrooms to 170.
The plans hinge on Arena winning the race to secure Wolverhampton's new small casino under the Government's newly announced national gambling plan.
The racecourse casino, hailed a 'racino', would also have up to 80 slot machines with a maximum jackpot of £4,000.
A takeover of Northern Racing would be a big win for Arena, which reported a 30 per cent increase in pre-tax profits last year. It has also recently won planning permission to develop properties around its Lingfield and Doncaster sites.
The deal would make Arena worth around £300 million.
Northern Racing admitted last year it was a takeover target and said in December it was in talks with an unnamed potential bidder that might lead to an offer being made. Today both Northern and Arena refused to comment on the market speculation of a possible tie-up.
Northern Racing was created in 2003 when Staffordshire millionaire developer and horseracing enthusiast Sir Stanley Clarke welded together his Chepstow and Northern Racing businesses, creating a £44 million operation with racecourses at Newcastle, Sedgefield, Uttoxeter, Hereford, Great Yarmouth, Chepstow, Bath, Brighton and Fontwell Park.
Sir Stanley died, aged 71, at his home in Barton-under-Needwood, near Lichfield, in September the following year.
Northern Racing's valuable property holdings, said to amount to 2,000 acres nationwide, are one of the reasons it is seen as a takeover target.
Earlier this year takeover talks put Northern's plans to redevelop Uttoxeter Racecourse on hold.
The 812-acre course celebrates its centenary this year and the owners had announced plans for new hospitality boxes, restaurants and an on-site hotel.
Northern Racing bought the course, which was then rundown and in need of attention, in 1988 and have already put in 64 corporate boxes.
The course employs 300 people on race days and attracts crowds of up to 14,000.