Casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd said on Friday that the conditions for delisting from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) “have all been satisfied on June 26, 2015”. The application for the voluntary withdrawal was submitted on January 2 and shareholders approved the plan in late March.
“The last day of dealings in the shares on the Stock Exchange is on Monday, June 29, 2015, and the listing of the shares on the main board of the Stock Exchange will be withdrawn effectively at 4pm on Friday, July 3, 2015,” the company said in its latest regulatory filing.
Melco Crown operates two casino properties in Macau, including its flagship City of Dreams Macau (pictured). It also runs – and helped to develop with local partners – City of Dreams Manila casino resort in the Philippines.
Melco Crown has said it is removing its shares from the HKEx “for reasons of cost and utility, including the lack of “appropriate opportunities to raise additional equity in Hong Kong” and the “very limited” volume of trading in its shares on that exchange.
The casino operator will retain the primary listing of American depository shares (ADSs) on Nasdaq. After the Hong Kong delisting, existing Melco Crown shareholders will have the option of either keeping the Hong Kong-issued shares or converting them into ADSs, which will continue to be traded on Nasdaq in the United States.
In Friday’s filing, the company confirmed that it would bear the costs for shareholders of lodging the Hong Kong shares with the depositary bank and the issuance of ADSs “for a period of 60 days following the last dealing date”.
But it warned: “Shareholders and investors should note that there are other fees and charges associated with the trading of ADSs.”
The casino operator last month said it was renewing a one-year share repurchase programme, allowing management to carry out on-market repurchases up to an aggregate of US$500 million.
