Donaco International Limited has announced Lee Bug Huy and Paul Porntat Amatavivadhana, the Thai vendors of the company’s Star Vegas casino in Poipet, Cambodia, as its newest board members.
Their appointment completes a dramatic transformation of the company’s board and executive composition, which began with a boardroom coup last December in which three members – Chairman Stuart McGregor and then-recently appointed non-executive directors David Green and Yugo Kinoshita – were voted out. Since then, long-time Donaco General Counsel and Company Secretary Ben Reichel and CEO Paul Arbuckle have both stepped aside.
Lee and Amatavivadhana, who along with their business partners hold a 17.99% stake in Donaco, had long been at war with the company until a recent settlement agreement saw multiple legal challenges dropped. The agreement also granted a 95-year extension for Donaco to use the land and buildings comprising Star Vegas, which are owned by the vendors, while non-compete provisions were also removed allowing the vendors to continue running another casino, Star Paradise, located next door.
Both Lee and Amatavivadhana have previously sat on the Donaco board, appointed in 2015, before their relationship with the company and its founder, Joey Lim, began to come apart. Lim was also ousted last year.
Last week, Donaco completed an AU$14.4 million entitlement offer that was fully underwritten by the Thai vendors, with the company stating Tuesday that the subsequent appointments of Lee and Amatavivadhana to the board “are being made in accordance with the terms of the underwriting agreement related to the Entitlement Offer.”
Amatavivadhana is a founding principal and CEO of Bangkok-based boutique corporate advisory firm Infinite Capital, while Lee is Vice President of Casino at Star Vegas.
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