NagaCorp delays share award to Dec due to Covid closure

Jun 28, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Casino operator NagaCorp Ltd is to delay until “no later than” December 31 a stock award plan it had announced in January, and which had been due to take place by Wednesday (June 30).

The firm said in a Friday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, referring to its monopoly casino operation in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia: “Due to the voluntary temporary suspension of business in NagaWorld due to Covid-19 concerns as previously announced by the company, the board has decided to defer the grants of the award shares to the connected participants and the non-connected participants to no later than 31 December 2021.”

The casino resort has been shuttered since early March. The firm’s stock closed on Friday trading at HKD7.73 (US$0.99589), towards the bottom end of its 52-week range, according to Bloomberg data.

In a January 28 filing, NagaCorp said its board had adopted a share award scheme, valid for 10 years, and that it was proposing an initial grant of nearly 19.23 million shares in aggregate, including to the firm’s directors.

It said at the time that nearly 10.23 million shares would go to NagaCorp’s directors and 9.0 million shares to the group’s employees.

The initial grant was to include: 6.0 million shares to Tim McNally, chairman of NagaCorp; nearly 1.17 million shares to Chen Lip Keong, the group’s founder and chief executive; and 3.0 million shares to Philip Lee Wai Tuck, the firm’s executive deputy chairman and director.

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