Bookmaker Ladbrokes could avoid potential US legal action with a specially-tailored 440m takeover plan for 888, it has been reported.

It has devised a strategy which would see it strip out the majority of the latter’s assets, rather than acquiring the group as a whole, claims the Financial Mail on Sunday.

It quotes a lawyer as saying: “If a company faces criminal liabilities in the US, selling up is not the end of it. The new owner will face the same criminal proceedings.

“But this new structure gives Ladbrokes an interesting defence by separating the corporate identities of the two companies.”

The situation has been brought about by last summer’s US online gaming crackdown.

This forced a pull-out of gaming firms from the US market and a 4bn crash in share prices.

One analyst pointed out that the proposed move could see Ladbrokes “have their cake and eat it.”

However, the paper says non-executives on the Ladbrokes board have been holding up the talks for weeks by their insistence on scrutinising every legal detail.

Ladbrokes shares closed at a record high on Friday.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 11:40 am While Dave was in Money. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.