Ladbrokes chair to leave amid investor fury at share sale

The chairman of Britain's biggest bookmaker is drawing up plans to step down weeks after infuriating investors by selling a £6m stake in the company.

Sky News has learnt that Lee Feldman, who has chaired GVC Holdings - the owner of Ladbrokes - since 2008, is to leave the business at or before its annual general meeting next year.

Mr Feldman's departure is already overdue under revised corporate governance guidelines which effectively oblige the chairs of blue-chip listed companies to leave after nine years.

Sources said on Friday, however, that GVC's senior independent director, Stephen Morana, had briefed leading investors in recent weeks that he would accelerate the process of identifying Mr Feldman's successor.

Mr Morana is not understood to have disclosed a deadline for an announcement, but is said to have acknowledged shareholders' right to be disgruntled at the share sales by Mr Feldman and Kenny Alexander, its chief executive.

The pair sparked outrage among shareholders earlier this month when they sold shares worth a combined £20m.

At the time, reports said that GVC had denied that the disposals signalled that either Mr Feldman or Mr Alexander were looking to leave the company.

However, a person close to the betting group said on Friday that preparations for Mr Feldman's exit had been informally under way for some time.

They acknowledged that a search firm had yet to be formally appointed to oversee the process.

The sell-off by Mr Feldman and Mr Alexander triggered a plunge of nearly 20% in GVC's share price as fears grew in the City about the scope for further negative news.

Investors were particularly irritated by the timing of the sales, with GVC's stock already under pressure because of growing regulatory pressure on gambling companies.

Mr Alexander had insisted just days before the duo offloaded their £20m holdings that the company was "significantly undervalued".

They then sold shares at a discount.

GVC pointed out that Mr Alexander continues to hold shares which, measured as a multiple of his basic salary, easily outstrip those of rival sector bosses.

It also highlighted the surge in GVC's value since Mr Feldman joined the company in 2004.

He took over as chairman in 2008.

GVC has been transformed under the pair's leadership, culminating in the £3.2bn takeover of Ladbrokes Coral last year.

The application of a nine-year rule to determining the independence of listed company chairs - recently introduced as part of the Financial Reporting Council's corporate governance code - has provoked uproar in boardrooms.

It has already acted as a catalyst for chairman searches at companies including Babcock International, the engineering group, and Imperial Brands, the tobacco products manufacturer.

A GVC spokesman declined to comment on the search for Mr Feldman's successor.