At its annual meeting in November, Asian casino operator Donaco International Ltd. will ask shareholders to approve a name change that would rechristen it as Pan Asian Leisure Ltd. The move would be “a public statement that we are leaving the past behind,” according to a filing from Donaco to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“The financial performance of the company during the past two financial years has been unacceptable,” it added.
According to GGRAsia, there will also be a proposal at the annual meeting to replace the entire current board at the insistence of One Nut Road Ltd, a subsidiary of Argyle Street Management Ltd., which owns a 19.25 stake in the company.
In the October 21 filing, Donaco said Patrick Tan Teck Lee, who has proposed himself as one of a new five-strong board upon a removal of the current board, has had business dealings with one of three Thai entrepreneurs with whom Donaco has had a long-running dispute over the Star Vegas Resort and Club in Poipet, Cambodia.
“In the board’s view, the decline in Donaco financial performance is largely due to the breaches of the non-compete agreement by the Thai vendors of the Star Vegas business,” noted the filing.
The company has launched legal proceedings against the Thai vendors, and an arbitration claim is ongoing in Singapore.
“Expert witnesses have valued the company’s claim in the amount of US$240 million,” noted the filing. It further stated that in “retaliation” for this claim, the Thai vendor parties had launched a number of claims in the Cambodian courts, which had “caused disruption to the Star Vegas business.”
Donaco said: “In particular, the Thai vendor has sought to terminate the registered perpetual lease of the land on which the Star Vegas business sits.”
Last month Paul Arbuckle, the recently-appointed group chief executive said in comments prefacing Donaco’s report for financial year ending June 30, that the firm had made “operational improvements” in the three months ending September 30 this year, that were already resulting in “improved financial performance”.
Earlier this month, Donaco, which also runs a casino in Vietnam, said in a business update filed with the Australian bourse that the group’s overall results in the three months to September 30 showed “very strong improvement” from the prior-year period.
