Casino operator Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd said in a Wednesday press release it had completed an off-market repurchase of circa 85 million of its shares.
The exercise involved just under 10-million of its ordinary shares, and 25-million of its American depositary shares, each unit of the latter representing three of the firm’s ordinary shares.
The US$152.7-million buyback – flagged at the time of Melco Resorts’ second-quarter results on August 18 – was from Melco Leisure and Entertainment Group Ltd, a unit of Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development Ltd.
Melco Resorts had said the private sale would result in Melco Leisure’s holding in Melco Resorts falling from 55.86 percent of Melco Resorts’ outstanding shares, to 50.36 percent.
The second-quarter net loss at Melco Resorts rose 35.4 percent year-on-year, to just under US$251.5 million. Judged quarter-on-quarter, the net loss was up 37.2 percent.
Melco Resorts operates casinos in Macau, one in Manila, the Philippine capital, and has a monopoly casino licence for the Republic of Cyprus, in Europe.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had on April 12 this year placed Melco Resorts – and a connected U.S.-listed firm, Studio City International Holdings Ltd – on its provisional list of Chinese companies at risk of being delisted from U.S. bourses.
China and the United States agreed in August a preliminary deal on cooperation on audit standards that could have an impact on such risk for those firms and circa 150 other China-linked entities listed in the U.S.
GGRAsia has approached Melco Resorts seeking comment on the latter topic, but has not so far received a reply.
