Suncity HK-listed entity warns 1H loss to widen

Aug 20, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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A Hong Kong-listed entity linked to the boss of Macau junket investor Suncity Group has issued a warning that it expects to widen its first half loss judged year-on-year.

Suncity Group Holdings Ltd said in a Friday filing that for the six months to June 30, “the anticipated significant increase in loss was mainly attributable to the increase in loss of approximately CNY944.1 million [US$137.3 million] in respect of the change in fair value of derivative component of convertible bond.”

The first-half loss for 2017 was just under CNY1.06 billion.

Suncity Group Holdings does not contain the profit streams of junket operations for privately-held Suncity Group in its declared assets but is nonetheless linked to Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, the founder of the junket brand. The brand is said by investment analysts to be the largest single investor in junket room operations in the Macau market.

On August 1 Suncity Group Holdings said in a filing it had again delayed completing the purchase of 34 percent of a casino resort project in Vietnam, telling the Hong Kong bourse it had put back the deadline for completion to August 31.

Mr Chau’s side announced the HKD600-million (US$76.4-million) deal in July last year.

Suncity Group Holdings first postponed the deadline for completing the purchase of its stake in the project in December 2017, putting it back to March 31 and warning of further postponements.

On May 8 this year, Suncity Group Holdings and an offshore entity called Fame Select Ltd, 50 percent owned by Mr Chau, said they had agreed to extend the maturity date on some outstanding convertible bonds in the principal amount of HKD570 million, by 24 months from December 7, 2018 to December 7, 2020.

On August 3 this year, Suncity Group Holdings announced that a dispatch relating to the maturity date on the relevant convertible bonds would be postponed to a date falling  “on or before” August 24.

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