GGRAsia – South Shore signs US$191mln MoU aiming to reduce debt

South Shore signs US$191mln MoU aiming to reduce debt

Jan 30, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The board of Hong Kong-listed South Shore Holdings Ltd says it has “entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding” with an associate of a substantial shareholder of the company to “explore a potential investment” in the group.

The firm said in a Tuesday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the potential investment would be made into South Shore’s subsidiary that owns The 13 Hotel (pictured). Neither the identity of the firm’s substantial shareholder involved in the deal, nor of the latter’s associate were disclosed in the filing.

The memorandum of understanding was signed on January 4 according to Tuesday’s announcement.

South Shore is the promoter of The 13 Hotel, a new venue located on the border between Coloane and the casino district of Cotai in Macau. The hotel had a partial opening on August 31, 2018. The firm aspires to have a casino at the property.

In Tuesday’s filing, South Shore stated that the proceeds from the potential investment – in an amount that “would not exceed HK$1,500 million” (US$191 million) – would be used to reduce the indebtedness of its subsidiary, associated with the development of The 13 Hotel.

The filing stated the memo would expire on 4 April, with the involved parties envisaging reaching a formal agreement by that deadline.

South Shore said that over the term of the memorandum of understanding, it would receive a total of HKD70 million “by way of earnest money payments (to be applied towards a deposit in the event that a formal agreement is entered into, or otherwise to be refunded to the prospective investor in full).”

Any formal agreement would have, among other things, to obtain the consent of the senior lenders to the target company.

“No assurance is given that any formal agreement will be entered into,” South Shore stressed in the filing.

The company reported in November a net loss of nearly HKD442.4 million for the six months ended September 30. That compares with HKD23 million in the prior-year period. The firm said its net loss rose mainly due to an “increase in finance costs, depreciation and amortisation charges and hotel operation expenses for the hotel segment”.