Summit Ascent Holdings announces termination of sale of Tigre de Cristal casino to Russian firm

The previously announced sale of Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd.’s Tigre de Cristal casino operations to a Russian entity has been canceled. Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd. is a Hong Kong stock exchange listed company.

The termination happened because the potential buyer, Dalnevostochniy Aktiv LLC, a Russian company, requested to withdraw from the deal by sending out a “notice of unilateral extrajudicial repudiation” on Monday.

The sale of all of the shares in G1 Entertainment LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oriental Regent Ltd., to the Aktiv business for US$116 million, payable in Chinese yuan, is the subject of the deal, which was disclosed on January 10. Through the business Oriental Regent, Summit Ascent manages the gaming and hotel activities at the Tigre de Cristal casino resort close to Vladivostok, Russia.

The Russian government has now granted G1 Entertainment a gaming license for Tigre de Cristal. 77.5 percent of Oriental Regent is owned by Summit Ascent, and 20 percent is owned by Firich Enterprises Co Ltd through Firich Investment Ltd, a subsidiary.

With the announcement of the sale termination, most of Summit Ascent’s directors resigned in protest of the deal, leaving chairman and director Andrew Lo Kai Bong, a regional casino investor, in his sole position. The parent company of Summit Ascent, LET Group, of which Mr. Lo is chairman and director, disclosed in a filing that all of its board members had resigned due to disagreement to the sale, with the exception of Mr. Lo.

When it comes to the termination notice, Summit Ascent and LET Group will consult with legal counsel. They will also make any relevant statements and submit an application to resume share trading.

For the first half of the year that ended on June 30, Summit Ascent reported a loss of HKD16.1 million (US$2.1 million), as opposed to a profit of HKD85.2 million during the same period the year prior.

Original story by: GGRAsia