GVC and Ladbrokes Coral: David gambles on Goliath

Last year’s merger with Coral gave Ladbrokes greater size, but only increased the appeal for the acquisitive GVCLadbrokes Coral’s bosses will try to sound cheerful about the prospect of being taken over by GVC Holdings, the company behind Sportingbet and Foxy Bingo. But, on the long view, this deal would be a corporate humiliation.Ladbrokes is one of the oldest names in British bookmaking and still collects the largest revenues. It traces its roots to 1886 and, under chairman Cyril S