GVC chairman said to be leaving just days after £6m stake sale

Ladbrokes owner GVC Holdings was said on Friday to be preparing for the departure of chairman Lee Feldman, just days after he sold off a £6m stake in the company.

According to Sky News, Feldman is set to leave the business at or before the annual general meeting next year. Sources said that GVC's senior independent director, Stephen Morana, had briefed leading investors in recent weeks that he would accelerate the process to identify a successor for Feldman.

Earlier this month, GVC shares tumbled after chairman Feldman and chief executive Kenneth Alexander offloaded 900,000 and 2.06 million shares in the company, respectively, for £6m and £13.7m. The stake sales were conducted at a discounted price of 666p a share.

Alexander said at the time that both he and Feldman remained "fully committed" to GVC.

"Whilst I continue to have the support of our shareholders, I'm here for the long term and at the very least I have a current plan that will take three plus years to accomplish," he said in a 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."

According to new UK corporate governance rules from last July - which recommend that chairs of listed companies remain in their positions for no longer than nine years - Feldman's departure is overdue.

At 1540 GMT, the shares were down 2.6% to 518.35p.