Trading of shares in Hong Kong-listed Macau casino services firm Macau Legend Development Ltd was suspended from 9am on Friday, as the company had flagged might happen, after it breached bourse rules by not publishing its prior-year results before April 1.
On Thursday, the firm said in a filing, that in the light of what it referred to as an “incident” – which it had reported to the market in January – Macau Legend had set up special committee to examine its corporate governance, and had appointed on March 5, a “reputable international accounting firm” as an independent consultant, for the purpose of “identifying and assessing the impact” of the matter.
Levo Chan Weng Lin – at the time boss of Macau junket brand Tak Chun – had been detained in Macau in January, on suspicion of illegal running of gambling operations and money laundering. Mr Chan – then also Macau Legend executive director, co-chairman and chief executive – was described at the time as Macau Legend’s largest single shareholder. He resigned from his executive roles soon after.
In its Thursday filing, Macau Legend noted: “Due to the travel restriction and quarantine measures occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is expected that the review will be completed in or around mid-April 2022, subject to the independent consultant’s schedule and barring unforeseen circumstances.”
Macau Legend oversees a number of so-called satellite casinos in Macau – including the Legend Palace casino hotel at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf (pictured) – under the Macau gaming licence of SJM Holdings Ltd. Macau Legend also has several non-gaming hotels and leisure facilities at Fisherman’s Wharf.
In addition, the company owns a casino resort in Laos, and is developing a gaming project in Cape Verde.
In a March 1 filing, Macau Legend said it appointed Melinda Chan Mei Yi, wife of the firm’s founder and co-chairman David Chow Kam Fai, as its new chief executive.
