Amax extends Vanuatu deal deadline

Jul 03, 2014 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck, World  

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Macau junket investor Amax International Holdings Ltd on Thursday said it hopes to complete a deal to acquire a 60 percent stake in a casino in the Pacific island Republic of Vanuatu by the end of July. That’s two months later than the firm had initially anticipated and the second extension of the deadline.

The parties agreed to extend the cut-off date to July 31, 2014 “or such other date as may be agreed,” Amax stated in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

It said the extension is needed “as the due diligence review has not been completed and the terms of the formal sale and purchase agreement have not been finalised”.

In March, Amax, chaired by veteran Macau junket operator Ng Man Sun, announced it had “entered into a non-legally binding letter of intent (LOI)” to buy a 60 percent stake in a firm called Forenzia Ltd.

According to Amax, Forenzia holds a gaming licence from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of the Republic of Vanuatu “for a term of 15 years to conduct interactive gaming business”.

In a filing on Monday, Amax reported a net profit of HK$65.4 million (US$8.4 million) for year ended March 31. It said it was committed to expand its core business outside Macau “to absorb the unfulfilled demand from high rollers in Asia”.

But the company’s deals are taking longer than anticipated. In a separate filing on Tuesday, Amax said it was extending for a fourth time the deadline on talks to acquire a controlling stake in a proposed casino operation in Northern Cyprus.

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