Ladbrokes owner GVC's chairman to quit after discounted stake sale - Sky News

(Reuters) - Ladbrokes owner GVC Holdings Plc's chairman, Lee Feldman, is preparing to leave the company, days after offloading a large stake at a discounted price, Sky News http://bit.ly/2TQmwQF reported on Friday.

In early March, Feldman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Alexander together sold 3 million GVC shares at a discounted price of 666 pence per share, which was seen by investors as a lack of confidence in the bookmaker.

Alexander had then said that both of them remained committed to GVC. The share sale sparked an 18 percent slide in the company's stock, which was demoted to the FTSE 250 index from the blue-chip index this week.

Feldman, who has chaired GVC since 2008, is set to leave at or before its annual general meeting in 2020, Sky News said.

GVC declined to comment on the report.

Stephen Morana, senior independent director of GVC, has briefed leading investors that a search for a successor to replace Feldman will be accelerated, according to Sky News sources, although a deadline was not disclosed.

GVC shares fell 2.7 percent to 517.5 pence - their lowest in more than two years - after the Sky News report.

(Reporting by Sangameswaran S, additional reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)