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Sep 02 2024

Alvin Show Co Lends Sun City List Up To US$190 Mil

SunCity Group Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed vehicle controlled by Macau casino junket investor Alvin Chauchukwa (pictured), will borrow up to HK$1.5 billion (roughly US$191.2 million) unsecured from a company he fully owns.

The purpose of the loan, at 3.5% annual interest, is to fund Listco's "daily operations, mergers and acquisitions, investments, business development and other corporate purposes," a filing on Monday showed.

According to the announcement, loans through British Virgin Islands registered company Star Hope Ltd will mature on the fifth anniversary of the first withdrawal date

Suncity Group Holdings lost nearly 1.46 billion yuan ($217.4 million) last year, it said in a March 29 filing.

The Suncity brand is best known for supplying high-value Chinese casino gamblers to the Macau market, but the publicly traded company, which has not included revenue streams from Macau gambling junkets in its filing accounts, is increasing its gaming investments into the market beyond Greater China.

In late February, privately owned Suncity Group, also controlled by Chow, confirmed in a news release that Listko had acquired a stake in Hong Kong-listed Russian casino operator Summit Ascent Holdings, which operates the Tigred Crystal Casino resort near the Russian Pacific port city of Vladivostok.

The announcement comes after the appointment of Andrew Lo Kai Bong, chief investment officer of Russian casino operator Suncity Group, as a non-executive director in December. Mr Lo is also the executive director of Suncity Group Holdings.

Suncity Group Holdings has a 3.29% stake in Summit Accent, according to a filing confirming Mr. Law's appointment from Summit Accent on Dec. 12.

In late February, Suncity Group Holdings also said in a filing that its wholly owned subsidiary had a non-legally binding note on possible cooperation with Paradise Inc., the Korean operator of foreign-only casinos.

It has something to do with Paradise Casino Busan. Busan is a port city on the southeastern coast of the Korean Peninsula, and it is a 90-minute air ride from Osaka, Japan.

In Southeast Asia, Suncity Group Holdings provides hotel and casino resort consulting services to third-party Vietnamese and Cambodian developments. The resort is still under construction.

It also bought a full stake in Star Admiral Inc., which indirectly owns about 34% of the Hoiana casino resort under construction in Hoi An, Quang Nam Province, in central Vietnam, in August. The property will have more than 1,000 hotel rooms, 140 game tables and more than 300 slot machines when the first phase is completed later this year.