GGRAsia – Landmark Macau casino hotel sale delay: Macau Legend

Landmark Macau casino hotel sale delay: Macau Legend

Mar 30, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The completion of a deal whereby the chief executive of Macau casino services firm Macau Legend Development Ltd and one of the group’s wholly-owned units will sell 100 percent of the equity in the Landmark Macau casino hotel has been delayed until at least April 30, the firm said in a Thursday filing.

Additional time was needed for the company to fulfil the deal conditions Macau Legend stated.

“As at the date of this announcement, the company is in the course of obtaining the documentation from the government authority in respect of transactions contemplated under the disposal agreement; all other conditions under the disposal agreement have been fulfilled,” it added.

In November, Macau Legend had stated in a filing that the consideration involved in deal was HKD4.6 billion (US$589.1 million).

A few days after that announcement, the prospective new majority owner of the property under the deal – Macau property investor Chong Sio Kin – told GGRAsia in an interview that he aimed to “enhance the gaming services” at the venue. The on-site casino – Pharaoh’s Palace (pictured) – uses the licence of Macau casino concessionaire SJM Holdings Ltd.

In another filing on Thursday, Macau Legend said that its unit Macau Fisherman’s Wharf International Investment Ltd – owner of the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf complex on the waterfront of the city’s downtown area – had that day agreed with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) Ltd and other lenders, to amend a previous loan facility. The latest conditions allow the firm access to a maximum principal amount of HKD2.1 billion for a seven-year term.

The filing said the amount was equal to the loan amount still outstanding on the previous loan agreement made in April 2014. That had allowed for a HKD4.22-billion loan over five years, at an interest rate equivalent to the Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate plus an interest margin of 2.5 percent per annum.

The latest filing did not clarify if the interest terms remained the same under the revised facility.

Melinda Chan Mei Yi, president of Macau Fisherman’s Wharf International Investment, is the wife of Macau Legend group co-chairman and chief executive David Chow Kam Fai.

In February Ms Chan told local media the group would accept a height reduction of one-third for the Legendale Hotel, a waterfront hotel it plans to build at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf.