Two companies formerly run by Alvin Chow, the deposed king of Macau, are facing delisting from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
SFC raises the alarm
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has warned that it may delist two companies formerly run by jailed Macau gambling guru Alvin Chow.
Concerns over the sale of $116 million worth of assets in Russia
The two gambling companies are LET Group Holdings Ltd and Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd. The SEC’s warning on Wednesday stems from the SEC’s concerns about a $116 million asset sale in Russia affecting the two companies.
BNN Bloomberg He cited the Financial Supervision Commission’s concerns that both entities failed to adhere to rules requiring shareholder approval for asset sales. The SEC fears that the Russia sale has stripped both LET and Summit of sufficient assets to ensure their continued inclusion in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index.
The SFC said it had not received any response from LET or Summit after the regulator asked the two companies to address the issue. Bloomberg Reports of the same lack of response to her inquiries.
The committee suspended trading in the shares of the two companies that operate outside the Chinese Special Administrative Region in Hong Kong.
Companies are in free fall
The SFC said it had “serious concerns” about the management behind Summit and LET and the way they conduct business. LET was previously a subsidiary of Chau Suncity Group’s gambling empire and owned nearly 70% of Summit’s shares.
In 2022, LET was renamed and Andrew Lo took the reins, but the CEO was unable to guide the company anywhere near safe. Even before the SFC suspended trading on LET, share prices were at an almost record low, plus it reduced its involvement in the management of Hoiana Resort & Golf in Vietnam.
LET was hit by a perfect storm
Senior Gaming and Hospitality Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence Angela Hanley ostensibly said that the LET had been hit by a perfect storm on three fronts.
“The problems associated with Alvin Chow caused the parent company’s business to evaporate. Covid dragged down the flow of tourists to Huiana in Vietnam. The third blow came when LET lost direction of its business in Vladivostok due to sanctions related to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict,” Hanley said.
The summit was also in terminal decline. Several executives resigned due to the fallout from an unspecified deal, leaving Lu as the only person on the company’s board.
According to the SFC, Summit indirectly owns the controversially sold Russian assets through a 77.5% owned sub-brand. gracia, Meanwhile, it was reported that the sale was to the gaming license holder of the Tigre de Cristal Resort and Casino in Vladivostok, Russia.
A crumbling empire
The SFC investigation into both companies simply exacerbates the long decline of Chow’s gambling empire. At its height, Chao Suncity Group was the leading operator in Macau, supplying luxury suites, private jets and gambling credits to high rollers from mainland China.
However, the death knell sounded in 2020 when Chinese police busted 2,260 illegal online gambling platforms and arrested more than 75,000 people. A year later, Chinese officials made history by arresting Zhao on charges of money laundering, the first big industry to be toppled by Beijing.
In January 2023, a Macau court found Chow guilty of more than 100 charges, including criminal association, illegal gambling and fraud, and sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
