David Chow Kam Fai (pictured in a file photo), a founder and former co-chairman of Hong Kong-listed hotel and casino services provider Macau Legend Development Ltd, now holds only a 0.39-percent stake in the company, down from the 9.89 percent he held until late last month.
That is according to GGRAsia’s review of a series of disclosures regarding Macau Legend, to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and made public on Thursday.
According to the latest data, Mr Chow’s reduction to 0.39 percent took place on March 29 and followed a debt settlement agreement he made with another substantial shareholder of Macau Legend.
Mr Chow and spouse Melinda Chan Mei Yi – the latter an executive director at Macau Legend and the guarantor in the settlement deal – agreed to settle the “outstanding liabilities” Mr Chow had with substantial Macau Legend shareholder Wong Hoi Ping.
The settlement was via consideration in shares in Macau Legend that had been owned by Mr Chow and Ms Chan, the disclosure filings said. The exact monetary value of the liabilities Mr Chow bore was not disclosed.
The creditor Ms Wong, is described in the regulatory update as spouse of Li Chi Keung, another substantial shareholder in Macau Legend.
The settlement agreement – which involved an aggregate of 589,112,776 shares in Macau Legend being transacted – saw Mr Chow’s shareholding position reduced from the original 9.89 percent to 0.39 percent.
Following the settlement, an entity named Elite Success International Ltd – controlled by Ms Wong and Mr Li Chi Keung as a couple – saw its long position in Macau Legend increase from the original 16.33 percent to 25.83 percent.
The value of the transfer of the above-589 million shares would be approximately HKD64.8 million, based on the HKD0.11 price of each Macau Legend share at close of market trading on March 28, the day prior to the settlement.
Macau Legend’s share price stood at HKD0.113 at the end of Thursday trading on the Hong Kong bourse.
Mr Chow retired as co-chairman and a non-executive director at Macau Legend in August 2022. He had helped launch the firm in 2006. It listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2013.
Macau Legend is now led by Thomas Li Chu Kwan, who is chairman, executive director and chief executive. Mr Li Chi Keung is his father.
On March 28, Macau Legend reported a full-year 2024 loss of HKD622.6 million (US$80.0 million), compared to a loss of HKD4.9 million in the previous year.
The main reasons for the deterioration in the results included recognition of impairment losses in relation to non-financial assets held by the group’s investment projects in Macau and in Cabo Verde –- the latter now terminated – amounting to HKD376.2 million.
The firm promotes Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, a waterside hotel and entertainment complex including a satellite casino under the gaming licence of SJM Holdings Ltd, on the city’s peninsula.
(Updated April 3, 6.01pm)
