Hong Kong hedge fund Argyle Street Management Ltd (ASM), which recently acquired a 19.25% stake in Southeast Asian casino operator Donaco International, has withdrawn its request for a general meeting to push for the appointment of ASM representatives to the Donaco board.
The withdrawal follows last week’s Extraordinary General Meeting at which Donaco founders Joey and Ben Lim were voted off the board.
Earlier this month ASM made a written request for two representatives of an associated firm called On Nut Road Ltd, Mr Kurkye Wong and Mr Yan Ho Leo Chan, to be appointed as directors of the company.
That request came shortly after ASM, said to be controlled by Thai hotel billionaire Chanin Donavanik, acquired its stake in Donaco from Orchard Capital Partners (OCP) in late June. The acquisition represented a significant portion of the 27.25% stake OCP had previously seized from Joey Lim after he defaulted on a loan repayment in November 2018.
However, the removal of the Lim brothers appears to have temporarily appeased ASM, with Donaco announcing on Monday that its request for a general meeting had been withdrawn, with discussions between the two parties ongoing.
“As part of the process of Board renewal, which began with the appointment of Mr David Green as a Director on 9 April 2019, the Board also plans to appoint an additional independent non-executive director in the near future,” Donaco said.