Suncity Group has become the majority shareholder in Russian IR operator Summit Ascent Holdings after acquiring a further 24.66% stake in the company on Tuesday.
The purchase, which includes 286,048,464 shares – equivalent to 19.21% of Summit Ascent’s issued share capital – formerly held by Taiwan’s First Steamship Company Limited and another 83,958,000 shares (6.44%) held by First Steamship Chairman Kuo Jen Hao, lifts Suncity’s interest to 27.94% with its listed arm having previously acquired a 3.29% stake late last year.
News of the HK$718 million (US$91.5 million) transaction comes three weeks after First Steamship revealed it was considering an offer to sell its entire stake in the company. One of its subsidiaries, First Steamship S.A., still holds another 12.67% stake in Summit Ascent via its own wholly-owned subsidiary Heritage Riches Ltd.
Summit Ascent owns the first integrated resort to be developed in Russia’s Primorye gaming zone near Vladivostok, Tigre de Cristal, which is featured in the April 2019 edition of Inside Asian Gaming.
In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Suncity Group said the acquisition was funded by financing from its Chairman Alvin Chau, who earlier this month approved an unsecured loan facility of up to HK$1.5 billion via his wholly-owned company Star Hope Ltd.
