(Reuters) – Shares of Australia’s Aristocrat Leisure fell on Friday as Hector Fernandez, CEO of the gambling firm’s gaming unit, Aristocrat Gaming, resigned to lead Apollo Global’s newly-formed rival.
Aristocrat stock slipped as much as 2.9% to A$67.720 by 0050 GMT, compared with a 0.3% drop in the benchmark index. It was on track for its worst session since Sept. 25.
Fernandez, who had led Aristocrat Gaming since 2022, will be replaced by Craig Toner, the current financial chief of the unit, the company said on Thursday after market close.
In a separate statement on Thursday, Apollo said it had appointed Hernandez as the CEO of its new gaming solutions venture.
In July, Apollo Funds — Apollo Global’s private equity arm — said it would take International Game Technology’s gaming and digital business and Everi Holdings private, in a deal that values the combined entity at $6.3 billion.
Both Aristocrat Gaming and International Gaming Technology design and manufacture slot machines for casinos.
Fernandez would join the combined company by the fourth quarter of 2025 after the expiration of a non-compete period, Apollo said.
Nick Khin, IGT’s president of Global Gaming, will serve as interim CEO of the combined business until Fernandez’s joining, it added.
(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)