Corvex Management takes Entain shareholding above 5% following CEO exit
US-based asset management firm becomes group’s fifth-largest shareholder, while swathe of board changes confirmed after Gavin Isaacs’ departure
Corvex Management has increased its shareholding in Entain to 5.3% following the sudden departure of CEO Gavin Isaacs.
In a market update, Entain has confirmed the New York-based asset management firm had taken its position in the operator past the 5% disclosure threshold.
The 5% threshold was officially crossed on 11 February, the day Isaacs confirmed his departure from the Ladbrokes and Coral parent company.
Overall, Corvex now holds a little more than 34 million shares in the London-listed company.
The move also makes Corvex one of Entain’s top five largest shareholders, behind the Capital Group Companies (10%), Dodge & Cox (9.9%), Eminence Capital (5.8%) and BlackRock Inc. (5.5%).
Eminence Capital, which has agitated for changes in strategy at the business, has Ricky Sandler sitting on the Entain board.
Isaacs’ departure saw Entain’s shares slide almost 10%, although the stock has since recovered.
The FTSE 100 firm’s shares were priced at 741.6p on Monday 17 February, having plunged as low as 657p last week.
Entain chair Stella David will reassume the interim CEO position she held after former CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen left the business in December 2023.
Similarly, when Nygaard-Andersen departed the business, Corvex snapped up an approximate 4.4% stake in Entain.
At the time, Corvex said Entain was at a “critical juncture” as it described the company’s performance as “unacceptable”.
Also, in the aftermath of Isaacs’ exit, Entain confirmed a reshaping of its board of directors.
In taking on the interim CEO role, David has stepped down from her positions on the capital allocation, people and governance and sustainability and compliance committees.
Pierre Bouchut will become interim chair and will also assume chair roles for the capital allocation and people and governance committees.
David Satz has been named a senior independent director with immediate effect, having served as a non-executive director with the firm since October 2020.
On this week’s edition of Zero Latency, a podcast by analyst firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, Discerning Capital managing partner Davis Catlin, who holds a long-term position in Entain, was asked whether David should be given the job on a permanent basis.
“I think she is sharp [but] I don’t know who else would take that job.” Besides David, Catlin said the “well-respected” Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM, should be in the running.