A company controlled by Macau casino magnate Lawrence Ho has been approved to raise its stake in a casino hotel slated to open later this year near Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok.
Summit Ascent Holdings will pay US$20.2 million to Elegant City Group, an entity controlled by jailed Russian businessman Oleg Drozdov, in order its increase equity interest from 46 percent to 60 percent.
Under the same deal, Firich Enterprises Co., a Taiwan-listed maker of electronic gaming machines, will enlarge its stake from 19 percent to 20 percent, while Melco International Development, a company Ho chairs, will retain a 5 percent via a subsidiary.
Last September, Ho pledged to invest US$700 million in the resort in partnership with Drozdov, who holds the gaming license. Then in November, Drozdov was arrested for “suspected business malpractices unconnected with the casino project,” Summit Ascent said, and in a filing earlier this year said the “unexpected detention of Mr. Drozdov has created unforeseen financing constraints in respect of the project” which it said it planned to “resolve” by acquiring part of Drozdov’s stake in the resort.
Plans for the resort call for 119 hotel rooms, 800 slot machines and 65 VIP and mass-market table games.
