RNS Number : 9213K

William Hill PLC

05 January 2016



The following notification was received today by William Hill PLC, relating to major interests in shares of William Hill PLC.

Dennis Read

Deputy Company Secretary

5 January 2016

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESⁱ

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached: ii			William Hill Plc
2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights
An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached				X
An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights
Other (please specify):
3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation: iii		Morgan Stanley (Institutional Securities Group and Global Wealth Management)
4. Full name of shareholder(s)  (if different from 3.):iv
5. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached: v		31.12.2015
6. Date on which issuer notified:		05.01.2016
7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: vi, vii		8%*

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares viii, ix

Class/type of shares if possible using the ISIN CODE

Situation previous to the triggering transaction

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Number of Shares

Number of Voting Rights

Number of shares

Number of voting rights

% of  voting rights x

Direct

Direct xi

Indirect xii

Direct

Indirect

GB0031698896

5,910,610

5,910,610

9,495,402

9,495,402

1.07%

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financial instrument

Expiration date xiii

Exercise/ Conversion Period xiv

Number of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/ converted.

% of voting rights

Right of Recall over a securities lending agreement

N/A

N/A

34,482,418

3.90%

Depositary Receipt

N/A

N/A

3,200

0.00%

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financial instrument

Exercise price

Expiration date xvii

Exercise/ Conversion period xviii

Number of voting rights instrument refers to

% of voting rights xix, xx

Call Option (Cash-settled)

334.0

15-01-2016

N/A

2,247,763

Nominal

Delta

N/A

0.25%

Call Option (Cash-settled)

351.167

27-01-2016

N/A

185,396

N/A

0.02%

Call Option (Cash-settled)

381.0

29-01-2016

N/A

123,275

N/A

0.01%

Call Option (Cash-settled)

360.682

09-02-2016

N/A

165,874

N/A

0.02%

Call Option (Cash-settled)

403.56

10-02-2016

N/A

518,133

N/A

0.06%

Call Option (Cash-settled)

412.439

09-03-2016

N/A

70,880

N/A

0.01%

Put Option (Cash-settled

334.0

15-01-2016

N/A

2,808

N/A

0.00%

Equity Swap (Cash Settled)

N/A

29-01-2016

N/A

8,000,000

N/A

0.90%

Equity Swap (Cash Settled)

N/A

15-03-2016

N/A

10,000,000

N/A

1.13%

Equity Swap (Cash Settled)

N/A

01-04-2016

N/A

1,300,773

N/A

0.15%

Equity Swap (Cash Settled)

N/A

28-12-2016

N/A

3,934,472

N/A

0.44%

Equity Swap (Cash Settled)

N/A

27-10-2017

N/A

369,335

N/A

0.04%

Total (A+B+C)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

70,899,728

8.02%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable: xxi
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, 25 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 4QA is a direct holder of 66,962,056 voting rights (7.57%) and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Investments (UK) Morgan Stanley Investments (UK), 20 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London E14 4AD is an indirect holder of 66,962,056 voting rights (7.57%) and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley UK Group Morgan Stanley UK Group, 25 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 4QA is an indirect holder of 66,962,056 voting rights (7.57%) is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley International Limited. Morgan Stanley International Limited, 25 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 4QA is an indirect holder of 66,962,056 voting rights (7.57%) and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley International Holdings Inc. Morgan Stanley International Holdings Inc, c/o The Corporation Trust Company (DE), Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801, USA is an indirect holder of 66,962,056 voting rights (7.57%) and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley.
Proxy Voting:
10. Name of  the proxy holder:		N/A
11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:		N/A
12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights:		N/A
13. Additional information:	Morgan Stanley's total holding in William Hill Plc remains above the 8% threshold previously disclosed, however, this notification is being made on the basis that the holding in sections 8(b) + 8(c) has crossed a relevant threshold in its own right at the component level.
14. Contact name:	Craig Horsley
15. Contact telephone number:	0141 245 7736

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END HOLKMGGMKKDGVZM