GGRAsia – Landing Intl says missing chairman back to work

Landing Intl says missing chairman back to work

Nov 27, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Casino resort investor Landing International Development Ltd says the firm’s chairman, Yang Zhihui, is back to work after being out of reach for more than three months. The company said in a Monday filing that Mr Yang (pictured) “has resumed his duties as chairman of the board and [an] executive director on 26 November 2018”.

The Hong Kong-listed firm said in an August statement that it had been “unable to contact or reach” Mr Yang since August 23.

In August’s filing, the company gave no reasoning for its assertion that the absence of Mr Yang would be temporary.

At the time of his disappearance, industry sources had told GGRAsia Mr Yang was reportedly last seen in Cambodia in late August. Shortly after that, an image was circulating online showing a person resembling Mr Yang airside on an airport’s tarmac, being escorted in handcuffs by two men.

In Monday’s filing, Landing International said Mr Yang had explained to the board that he had been “assisting a relevant department of the People’s Republic of China with an investigation during the period of his absence”.

“The board would like to inform the shareholders … and investors that the business and operations of the group have been steady and normal currently and during the period while Mr Yang was temporarily absent,” added the firm.

Mr Yang owns 50.48 percent of the total issued share capital of Landing International via a wholly-owned company, according to latest available record from the Hong Kong bourse.

The shares of Landing International – which currently operates a casino resort complex in the South Korean island of Jeju – closed at HKD2.73 (US$0.349) apiece on Monday, up nearly 8.8 percent on the day but down 52.8 percent from August 23.

The company had requested suspension of its shares in the morning of August 23, after they lost 35 percent of their value in the first 90 minutes of daily trading.

The company has lost nearly 53 percent of its value since August 23 and now has a market capitalisation of about HKD8.01 billion.