GVC refutes Turkish divestment controversy
London-listed operator releases official statement in response to a Sunday Times article about Turkish business disposal
GVC Holdings has released an official statement refuting a series of claims made in a recent Sunday Times article about the disposal of the operator’s Turkish business.
The London-listed firm originally sold its Turkey-facing Headlong Limited subsidiary for €150m back in 2017 to pave the way for GVC’s £4bn takeover of Ladbrokes Coral.
Headlong was sold to Ropso Malta Limited, which was scheduled to make monthly payments over a five-year period to reach the €150m sale price.
But in February 2018, GVC waived the payments after invoking a Clean Break Notice before the first payment was made, absolving Ropso from future payments.
This week, a Sunday Times piece alleged that Kenny Alexander had essentially gifted the business to his friend and racehorse co-owner Ron Watts, one of three owners of Rospo.
The two are listed on Companies House as directors of KenRon, which owns a stud farm in Scotland and are alleged to have met while at Sportingbet.
“The link between Watts and Alexander will raise questions about the terms of the deal and why their relationship was not disclosed,” The Times said.
The Times suggested GVC was also struggling to make inroads with US regulators because it had operated in Turkey using payment-hiding software as recently as February 2017.
Ladbrokes owner GVC has issued a statement on yesterday's @ST_Business story. It doesn't address the core question: why weren't GVC shareholders told of the relationship between Kenny Alexander and Ron Watts, who was in effect given a business making €50m of profits for free? pic.twitter.com/zagvt3foqq
— Oliver Shah (@olivershah) July 8, 2019
GVC published an official response yesterday, saying: “The board today reiterates the fact that subsequent to the disposal of the group’s Turkish-facing business, GVC has no activity either directly or indirectly linked to the Turkish market.
“The board categorically refutes suggestions that the group, or senior management, continue to benefit from any operations servicing the Turkish market.
“The business continues to perform strongly and is focused on taking a market-leading position in the US and other regulated markets.”