GGRAsia – CY Foundation chairman steps down, reduces holding

CY Foundation chairman steps down, reduces holding

Jun 12, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Singapore businessman Poh Po Lian has resigned as executive director and chairman of Hong Kong-listed CY Foundation Group Ltd and sold most of the shares held in his name. CY Foundation is an investor in services to the Macau gaming industry.

A Hong Kong filing before the start of trading on Friday said the reason for the resignation was “to focus on his other investment” and took effect from Thursday.

A CY Foundation unit called CY Management Ltd is currently providing management services to three casinos in Macau and information technology services to two other casinos in the city, the parent company said in May.

A second Friday filing by the company said Mr Poh had – via a company he controls called Luck Continent Ltd – disposed of 321,626,412 shares in CY Foundation to an existing CY Foundation shareholder called Declan Investments Inc. The newly disposed shares represented approximately 24.26 percent of the issued share capital of CY Foundation.

Under the arrangement, Mr Poh ceases to be a substantial shareholder of CY Foundation, but retains 1.1 million shares.

Additionally, an entity controlled by Mr Poh called Weike (G) Management Private Ltd, disposed of HKD45 million (US$5.8 million) in convertible notes issued by CY Foundation, to a purchaser called Ideal Investment Ltd.

The purchasing entities in both deals are owned by Mark Yong Khong Yoong, described as an independent third party. Mr Poh retains an interest in HKD17-million worth of convertible notes in CY Foundation.

The total consideration for the two transactions was HKD250 million, according to Friday’s filing.

Carlos Luis Salas Porras has been redesignated from non-executive director of CY Foundation to executive director and chairman with effect from Thursday.

CY Foundation posted a net loss of HKD47.3 million (US$6.1 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015. It had a net loss of HKD19.5 million in the previous year.