New Head of Investor Relations and Strategy at GVC Holdings
News on 18 Jan 2016
News on 18 Jan 2016
GVC Holdings plc has appointed Nick Batram to the newly created role of Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy.of the group ahead of the completion of the proposed acquisition of Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment plc early next (February) month. He will take up his appointment in the second quarter of 2016.
Batram’s appointment follows that of former Playtech and Gala Coral executive Shay Segev as chief operating officer at GVC recently (see previous report).
Batram has spent more than 30 years working in City-related finance with experience from both the buy-side and sell-side of capital markets. For the last 21 years of his career in the City, he has specialised in analysis of the leisure and gaming sector.
Following completion of the Bwin.Party acquisition, Batram will be responsible for the capital markets facing activities of the group, and will also head up the group’s global investor communications programme to ensure transparent disclosure to shareholders. His responsibilities additionally include internal corporate finance and strategic business development including M&A origination and execution.
Batram was previously Peel Hunt LLP where he was head of the leisure and gaming Team. He joined Peel Hunt in 2008 and under his leadership the team was rated in the Top 3 in leisure in the Extel analyst rankings. He was personally voted the number one leisure and gaming analyst by corporates in the 2014 Extel Survey and is well-known and highly regarded in the sector, having worked on numerous high profile fundraisings and M&A transactions.
Kenny Alexander, CEO of GVC Holdings, says that Batram’s appointment is another strategic building block ahead of the completion of the GVC and Bwin.Party merger.
“Nick is renowned in the gaming sector for having in-depth knowledge of the industry and I am delighted to welcome him to the GVC team,” he said Monday. “Nick’s gravitas in the sector means shareholders will have a respected, knowledgeable and transparent first point of contact. Internally we will benefit from Nick’s immense knowledge and contact base as well as his strong analytical skills.”
Batram commented, “I believe we find ourselves in one of the most exciting periods of growth for the sector in many years. For me the combination of GVC and Bwin.Party is by far the most compelling.”
