GGRAsia – Lawrence Ho, 3 Melco bosses share US$9mln restricted stock

Lawrence Ho, 3 Melco bosses share US$9mln restricted stock

Apr 08, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Philippines, Top of the deck

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd’s chairman and chief executive Lawrence Ho Yau Lung (pictured in a file photo) is among four named senior representatives of the group to be granted restricted shares with a total value of US$9.04 million in the United States-listed global casino operator, according to a Friday filing by its Hong Kong-listed parent, Melco International Development Ltd.

The grants were denominated in American depositary shares (ADS), each equal to three ordinary Melco Resorts shares. They were part of a restricted share grant – to Melco Resorts’ employees and service providers – involving just under 3.74 million ADSs worth an aggregate of US$28.3 million.

The closing price of the ADSs, as quoted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the April 3 date of grant, was US$7.56.

“There are no performance targets nor clawback mechanism attached to the restricted shares granted,” stated the filing.

Mr Ho has been granted 952,380 ADSs – equivalent to 2,857,140 Melco Resorts shares – worth nearly US$7.2 million in aggregate .

Evan Winkler, president and managing director, receives 149,637 ADSs. Clarence Chung Yuk Man, an executive director, gets 74,406 ADSs. John Crawford, an independent non-executive director, is granted 19,842 ADSs.

They are to vest in three equal batches: the first on April 3, 2025, and the remaining two batches on April 3, 2026 and April 3, 2027 respectively.

The grant to Mr Ho and Mr Winkler was to “to incentivise and motivate” them in terms of the “development of the Melco Resorts group and its businesses”.

The firm operates casinos in Macau, as well as City of Dreams Manila in the Philippine capital. It also has a monopoly licence in the Republic of Cyprus, where its flagship resort is City of Dreams Mediterranean.

Melco Resorts “lost share” in 2023 within the Macau market in terms of earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation, said Mr Ho on the group’s fourth-quarter earnings call in late February.

The grant of restricted shares to Mr Ho and Mr Winkler is “subject to the reporting and announcement requirements” applicable to the company, “but exempt from the independent shareholders’ approval requirements,” said the filing.

Mr Winkler has also been granted share options amounting to 605,166 ADSs – equivalent in value to just under US$4.6 million – under the Melco Resorts Share Incentive Plan.

A total of just under 2.48-million ADS were granted to its employees that take part in the group’s share incentive plan. An additional 67,164 ADS were granted to service providers, namely companies that provide advisory and consultancy services to Melco Resorts, according to the filing.