Gala Coral hires former Ladbrokes finance director

Gala Coral has appointed former Ladbrokes executive James Bunn as finance director at its Gibraltar-based Interactive headquarters, eGaming Review has learned.

Bunn, who officially left his role as finance director at Ladbrokes in the spring, spent three years at the operator’s north-west London base before relocating to Gibraltar ahead of beginning his new role on 1 July.

The hire sees Bunn assume the responsibilities previously held by Paul Meehan, who had been made finance director on an interim basis following the merger of the Gala and Coral management teams late last year.

Meehan, who had previously been FD of Gala Interactive, has since taken up a deputy finance director role, which also includes additional business intelligence responsibilities.

The appointment of Bunn comes at a time when Ladbrokes and Gala Coral are in deep discussions over a potential tie-up, which could create a digital business with annual revenues of approximately £400m.

But it is understood the FD had decided to join Gala Coral ahead of the current merger talks, with his eventual switch coming after a lengthy period of gardening leave.

Following Bunn’s departure, Ladbrokes’ digital FD duties have been passed on to Ross Sandbach, who was appointed as a director of the company in March.

Last week Ladbrokes chief executive Jim Mullen cited current merger discussions as the reason for postponing his planned strategy announcement on 30 June.

Both Ladbrokes and Gala Coral have declined to comment on this story.

Last week eGR revealed Gala Coral had appointed former Playtech COO Shay Segev as its new chief strategy officer.