Lawrence Ho Yau Lung (pictured), chairman and chief executive of casino investor Melco International Development Ltd, has been awarded share options in the company at an aggregate exercise price value of HKD21.36 million (US$2.76 million).
The price of the company’s Hong Kong-listed stock has dropped 40 percent over the past 12 months, according to Bloomberg data.
The 1.5 million share options awarded to Mr Ho have an exercise price of HKD14.24, according to a Wednesday filing. The market price of Melco International shares at lunch time on Friday was HKD15.30, up 1.46 percent on the day, according to Bloomberg.
Six other directors of the firm have between them been awarded a total of 633,000 shares under option. Options on a further 980,000 shares have been granted to individuals not named in the filing.
The whole exercise involves 3,113,000 share options to “directors, employees and consultants of the company”, Melco International said.
Profits at Melco International fell 6.8 percent in 2014, to approximately HKD1.49 billion from nearly HKD1.60 billion a year earlier, the company said in a filing in late March.
Melco International’s core business is in developing casino resorts in Macau and the Philippines, via Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, its joint venture with Australia’s Crown Resorts Ltd.
But Melco International also has an independent pipeline of other potential casino projects in Tbilisi, Georgia, and Barcelona, Spain, via a subsidiary called MelcoLot Ltd. Melco International has also a minority stake in a casino project in Vladivostok, Russia.
