The shareholders from Cambodian gaming operator NagaCorp Ltd. allowed one of the company’s Chief Executives, Chen Lip Keong, to become the group’s major shareholder through the conversion of two groups of convertible bonds, a Hong Kong Stock Exchange release announced yesterday.
According to the filing, in an extraordinary general meeting held on Friday, 91 per cent of NagaCorp’s shareholders – representing more than 775.8 million shares – voted in favour of allowing Mr. Chen to exercise conversion rights on both TSCLK Complex Convertible Bonds and NagaCity Walk Convertible Bonds.
According to a company filing from July 19, convertible bonds for the TSCLK complex had an outstanding aggregate principal amount of US$275 million (MOP2.21 billion), with NagaCity Walk bonds valued at US$94 million.
The conversion of the bonds received a waiver by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, releasing Mr. Chen of the obligation to make a mandatory general offer for all the issued shares of NagaCorp not already under his control.
This allowed Mr. Chen and ‘parties acting in concert with him’ to increase their share in the company from almost 39 per cent to 65.4 per cent, with public shareholders to hold the remaining 34.6 per cent, in a process expected to be concluded by August 18 of this year.
Cambodia player
Casino operations of the company comprise all gaming activities from NagaWorld, located in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. According to its latest financial report on the first half of this year, the group employed nearly 6,400 people stationed in Cambodia, mainland China, Macau, and Singapore.
NagaCity Walk is a property next to NagaWorld, completed in August of 2016 and offering duty-free shopping operated by the China Duty Free Group.
The TSCLK Complex – also known as Naga2 – is undergoing fit-out and is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2017, with the group having invested US$108 million in the acquisition of property, plant, and equipment in the first half of this year.
