Receivers have sold off two tranches of ordinary shares in boutique Asian casino operator Donaco International Ltd that had been held by its former chief executive Joey Lim Keong Yew, and his brother Ben Lim Keong Hoe. Mr Ben Lim had stepped in as Donaco’s interim CEO until earlier this month, when the company named Paul Arbuckle its new chief executive.
The stock sales – conducted in on-market transactions on June 19 and filed to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Wednesday – saw the proceeds go to OCP Group, the abbreviated name for OL Master (Singapore Fund 1) Pte Ltd. OCP Group is also a creditor of an entity controlled by Mr Joey Lim, a scion of the Malaysian business family that founded the Genting casino brand.
The first tranche – controlled by Mr Joey Lim – involved just under 65.9 million shares and realised nearly AUD7.16 million (US$5 million) based on a price of AUD0.11 per share.
The second tranche controlled by Mr Ben Lim, involving just over 8.9 million ordinary shares at the same price, realised AUD981,793 for OCP Group.
OCP Group acquired in December 2018 a nearly 10-percent stake in Donaco but Australia’s Takeovers Panel said last month that the transactions occurred in “unacceptable” circumstances.
According to the Takeovers Panel, at relevant moments “the market was not aware” that OCP Group was already a senior secured creditor of a company controlled by Joey Lim, and that the business was already in December in default of his credit deal with OCP Group.
In mid-March, Donaco said it had terminated the employment of Mr Joey Lim “with immediate effect”.
Earlier this week Donaco said it had been able to rejig a term loan with Mega International Commercial Bank Co Ltd of Taiwan.
But in the same Monday filing to the ASX the company said it expected to make a statutory net loss in its current financial year, adding that no dividends or buybacks would be permitted in its next financial year.
