GVC Seeking New Chairman as Lee Feldman Leaves

GVC Holdings PLC, which recently made changes among its senior management team, is at it again, having announced that they are looking for a new chairman.

This Isle of Man-based online gambling operator for both B2C and B2B markets, officially announced that it will be looking for a new chairman in the next few months…

…since their current chairman, Lee Feldman, will leave his position in June.

Replacement Under Way

Last Friday, a statement was released, detailing that Feldman is planning to quit and give up his position to someone else…

…and it will officially happen on GVC’s annual general meeting that will take place on June 5, 2019.

The company officials confirmed that Feldman will indeed leave his job and that the company is already in the process of finding his replacement, but it is still early to provide more details about it.

More about Lee Feldman

The current chairman has been occupying the position since 2008. Just recently, UK regulators changed the country’s corporate governance code…

…and now they recommend that chairmen of publicly traded companies stay on that position for a maximum of nine years.

So, Feldman’s leaving would be somewhat of a logical turn of events. But, to many, it is strange that this announcement came only two weeks after Feldman sold 900k of his shares in GVC.

That amount represents more than three-quarters of his total stake in the company, netting a £6 million payday in the process.

CEO Also Sold his Shares

The CEO of GVC, Kenneth Kenny Alexander, also sold his shares two weeks ago. He sold over three-quarters of his stake as well, which is a staggering amount of 2.06 million shares that were worth £13.7 million on that day.

The panic of the company investors resulted in the shares closing the day’s trading down 14%.

“We have both held large personal shareholdings in GVC for a long time and continue to do so. Both of us remain fully committed to GVC and, whilst I continue to have the of our shareholders, I’m here for the long term and at the very least I have a current plan that will take 3 plus years to accomplish,” Alexander commented in an official statement.

“We reported excellent results earlier this week and we both remain convinced of the exciting prospects for the business. Therefore, while we continue at GVC we will not reduce our holdings below the current levels,” Alexander added.

A Word from the Company’s Spokesperson

Although a spokesperson from the company insisted on the fact that Feldman is leaving the company because he had “been in the offing for a fair while before the share sale,”…

…it is not sure if investors will believe this story.

Alexander said that he didn’t make this move because he wants to leave GVC and that both him and Feldman are in the company “for the long term.” Since Feldman is now leaving, it is expected that investors will be worried.

Source:

“GVC looking for new chairman as Lee Feldman plots exit”, Steven Stradbrooke, calvinayre.com, March 22, 2019.