GGRAsia – Angela Leong pledged for US$36mln of SJM US$1bln notes

Angela Leong pledged for US$36mln of SJM US$1bln notes

Feb 02, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Angela Leong On Kei (pictured), an executive director and co-chairman of Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd, has pledged to take US$36-million worth of the nearly-US$1 billion in U.S.-dollar-denominated senior notes issued by the firm on January 27.

The information, lodged with the Hong Kong bourse, means Ms Leong – fourth consort of the group’s late founder, Stanley Ho Hung Sun, and mother of his youngest children – has the largest allocation of the notes among those interests declared by directors of SJM Holdings.

Declarations by directors account for US$77.5-million of the notes. All the transactions were on the day the notes were issued, a date confirmed by a January 28 filing to the Hong Kong bourse.

The next-largest acquisition of the debentures by a director – after Ms Leong – has been by Ambrose So Shu Fai, chief executive and an executive director, with US$15-million worth.

Ina Chan Un Chan, third consort of the late Mr Stanley Ho, took US$12.5 million of the notes.

Daisy Ho Chiu Fung, SJM Holdings’ chairman and an executive director – and a daughter of the founder – subscribed to US$10-million worth of such notes.

Louis Ng Chi Sing, a non-executive director who was until June last year the firm’s chief operating officer, has acquired US$4 million of the notes.

SJM Holdings had on January 21 announced it expected to raise approximately US$991 million net, via an offering of two tranches of U.S.-dollar denominated senior notes, due respectively in 2026 and 2028. The firm also stated it would seek a listing of the notes on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

About 90 percent of the money to be raised was to refinance loans linked to the group’s HKD39-billion (US$5.0-billion) Cotai resort, Grand Lisboa Palace. In its third-quarter earnings summary, issued in October, the casino group mentioned the possibility of Grand Lisboa Palace opening “during the first quarter of 2021”.