Shamed banker to make £10m in sale of Queen Mum’s favourite bookie
‘Enormous rewards’
THe disgraced former banker who took HBOS to the brink of collapse is to make up to £10million from the sale of Britain’s biggest bookmaker.
Andy Hornby, who as chief executive oversaw the bank’s demise in the financial crisis following years of reckless lending, is now chief operating officer at Ladbrokes Coral.
The bookie yesterday agreed to be bought by an online firm based in the Isle of Man in a deal worth up to £4billion. The takeover by GVC Holdings, which owns Foxy Bingo, Party Poker and Sportingbet, values Mr Hornby’s 4.83million shares in Ladbrokes Coral at as much as £10million.
Dating back to 1886, Ladbrokes is the oldest bookmaker in the world and was known as the Queen Mother’s favourite bookie. Mr Hornby, 50, will become one of two chief operating officers at GVC when the deal is completed. Although his pay has not been disclosed, he is likely to earn millions in a job that will see him run the company’s 3,500-plus betting shops in the UK.
Stefan Stern, director of the High Pay Centre, said: ‘In light of the HBOS collapse, which he was at the heart of, people will raise their eyebrows at such enormous rewards while the rest of us are still dealing with the aftermath of the financial crisis.’
Mr Hornby’s past could still come back to haunt him. The Financial Conduct Authority, the City watchdog, is investigating ‘certain former HBOS senior managers’ over the demise of the bank.
He has been heavily criticised for his role in the meltdown at HBOS before its takeover by Lloyds, which led to Lloyds being bailed out with £20.5billion of taxpayers’ money.
Mr Hornby left HBOS in disgrace in 2009, later joining Gala Coral. He took over as chief operating officer of Ladbrokes Coral following the £2.3billion the merger of the two betting titans last year.
The final price tag for GVC’s takeover of Ladbrokes Coral will depend on the Government’s review into fixed- odds betting terminals – nicknamed the crack cocaine of gambling because of their addictive nature. If ministers cut the maximum bet on the machines from the current level of £100 to £2, GVC will pay £3.2billion, while the price will rise to £4billion if the limit is only cut to £50.