Mainland China-based 500.com Ltd completed on Tuesday the acquisition of a 40.65-percent stake in MelcoLot Ltd, a firm that supplies technology to the mainland China lottery market. The exercise involved a total consideration of approximately HKD322.2 million (US$41.3 million), the companies said in a joint filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The seller was casino investor Melco International Development Ltd, a company controlled by gaming entrepreneur Lawrence Ho Yau Lung. Following the closing of the deal, Melco International ceased to have any interest in MelcoLot.
Melco International had said in May that the sale of its stake in MelcoLot was “a good opportunity” to divest its non-core investments.
500.com, a provider of online sports lottery products in mainland China, now owns 1,278,714,329 shares in MelcoLot. As a result of the acquisition, 500.com has made a general offer – of HKD0.252 per share – for all 1,866,942,571 MelcoLot shares that it does not own, to an aggregate value of HKD470.5 million. The company has also to acquire all the share options in MelcoLot, according to the filing.
On Tuesday, MelcoLot additionally announced that it had appointed Huang Lilan as the firm’s new chief financial officer. Prior to joining MelcoLot, Ms Huang served as a financial director of a subsidiary of 500.com since 2011.
