Landing Intl shares up as missing chairman returns

Nov 28, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Shares in Hong Kong-listed casino investor Landing International Development Ltd soared more than 40 percent on Tuesday after the company said its chairman, Yang Zhihui, was back to work.

Landing International – which currently operates a casino resort complex on the South Korean island of Jeju – said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late on Monday that Mr Yang had “resumed his duties” as chairman and executive director of the company, after being out of reach for more than three months.

The firm’s shares soared as much as 45 percent on Tuesday morning before easing in the afternoon session, to close at HKD3.40 (US$0.434). The stock was trading at HKD3.14 apiece on Wednesday morning, down 7.6 percent on the day.

At the current share price, the company now has a market capitalisation of about HKD9.20 billion. The company’s value is still down 45.8 percent since August 23, when the firm announced that it had been “unable to contact or reach” Mr Yang.

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.

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