A non-executive director at Australian casino firm Crown Resorts Ltd, Michael Johnston, said on Monday that he had not checked whether Stanley Ho Hung Sun, former monopolist in the Macau casino market, still had a stake in a Macau licensee that had been seeking to buy shares in Crown Resorts. Mr Johnston was under questioning from a lawyer heading an Australian inquiry into the firm’s suitability for a New South Wales casino licence.
Monday’s inquiry session also learned that James Packer, a major shareholder in Crown Resorts, had sought to push through the deal, even though Mr Johnston had wanted to get more information out of Macau regarding the suitability of the move.
According to evidence quoted in the inquiry, Mr Packer told Mr Johnston via text message: “Sure, Mike, but it’s my life and I’m going to overrule you.”
Mr Stanley Ho’s name had previously been linked – according to publicly-available information – with local concerns in Australia that the businesses he founded had ties to Chinese organised crime.
In the first half of 2019, a deal had been brokered to enable Macau casino licensee Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd – chaired by Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, a son of Mr Stanley Ho – to buy a near 20-percent stake in Crown Resorts in two tranches, to a total value of about US$1.2 billion at contemporary exchange rates.
The first half of the deal – for about 9.99 percent – later went through, but the second didn’t happen; and in April this year, Melco Resorts disposed of the tranche it did hold, at a 37-percent discount.
Monday’s hearing of the inquiry by the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA), regarding Crown Resorts’ licence for its pending development at Barangaroo in Sydney, heard Mr Johnston say he had not checked on whether Mr Stanley Ho – who died in May this year – still had, as of 2019, links to Melco Resorts.
Mr Johnston was also the finance director of CPH Crown Holdings Pty Ltd, the business controlled by Mr Packer that sold the Crown Resorts shares to Melco Resorts. He also said he was “not sure” he knew that Mr Stanley Ho still had an interest in Melco Resorts, and added that he would have liked to explore further other possible deals regarding a sale of Crown Resort’s stake by CPH Crown Holdings.
The inquiry heard that as of 2019, Mr Stanley Ho held – via a trust – a stake in Melco Resort’s Hong Kong-listed parent Melco International Development Ltd.
According to the latter’s 2019 annual report, filed in April this year, a firm called Great Respect Ltd – controlled by a trustee called TMF (Cayman) Ltd – featured Mr Stanley Ho as one of a number of beneficiaries of a 20.44 percent stake in Melco International. Great Respect is reportedly banned by the authorities in New South Wales.
Monday’s inquiry session also learned that James Packer, a major shareholder in Crown Resorts, had sought to push through the deal, even though Mr Johnston had wanted to get more information out of Macau regarding the suitability of the move.
