GGRAsia – Emperor Ent boosts stake in operator of Macau casino hotel

Emperor Ent boosts stake in operator of Macau casino hotel

Jan 02, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Hong Kong-listed Emperor Entertainment Hotel Ltd has agreed to acquire a further 5-percent stake in the privately-held British Virgin Islands (BVI)-registered company that operates Macau casino venue the Grand Emperor Hotel (pictured).

The consideration involved will be HKD155 million (US$20 million), with the deal likely to be concluded “on or before” March 15, 2019.

The Grand Emperor operates in Macau under the gaming licence of SJM Holdings Ltd.

The transaction will mean Emperor Entertainment Hotel will hold an 80-percent equity interest in Luck United Holdings Ltd.

The suitor firm said in a Thursday filing to the Hong Kong bourse that acquisition of the additional 5-percent stake was a “tremendous opportunity for the company to further increase and concentrate the stake in Luck United at a deep discount”.

The filing added: “In recent years, the target group continued to achieve a stable performance in entertainment and hospitality services in Macau and generate recurrent income for the group. Such acquisition can enable the group to realise such good investment opportunity and utilise financial resources efficiently.”

In the first half of 2018, Emperor Entertainment Hotel registered a 5.2-percent decline in total revenue judged year-on-year, to about HKD665.59 million. It was spurred by a fall in gaming revenue, that company said in a filing in late November.

In the latest announced transaction, the purchaser of the 5-percent in Luck United is Emperor Entertainment Hotel Investment Ltd, also a BVI firm, and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Emperor Entertainment Hotel.

The actual vendor in the latest deal is New Mode Ltd, a Hong Kong-registered investment holding company.

Thursday’s filing said that the unaudited consolidated net asset value of the target group subject to the deal was approximately HKD4.78 billion as at November 30.

The document also outlined that the target firm owed the vendor an outstanding loan of just under HKD12.3 million as of November 30, which was to be covered by the deal arranged with the suitor, Emperor Entertainment Hotel.