Lawrence Ho offloads tiles and engineering business

Summit Ascent Holdings, controlled by Lawrence Ho, has decided to sell the tiling and engineering Easy Market Group for HK$200,000 (US$25,770), it was announced late on Monday night in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The deal involves the sale of the Easy Market Group, comprising the holding Easy Market and the subsidiary Arnhold Trading, to the investment holding Anagram Company Limited, which is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. ‘Having regard to the increasingly challenging business environment in the construction sector and the lack of scale of the group’s [Summit Ascent] trading of tiles and engineering operations business, the board considers that it is in the interests of the company and its shareholders to focus the group’s time and resources on the development of the group’s gaming and hotel operations business’, the board explained about the decision. Summit Ascent is the company used by Lawrence Ho to invest in the Russian gaming industry and more specifically in Vladivostok (Russia) via the integrated and casino resort named Tigre de Cristal. During the fiscal year of 2015, and according to the company filing sent on Monday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Easy Market Group recorded a net loss amounting to HK$2.08 million. ‘The transaction represents an opportunity to dispose of the loss-making business and be released from the indebtedness and other obligations associated with that business’, the company explained. However, and based on the company’s annual report of 2014, Summit Ascent is still involved in the trade of tiles and engineering operations products via another subsidiary based in Hong Kong named Worth Apex Limited.