Macau’s Suncity shares more than triple after new majority shareholder named

A logo of Macau junket operator Suncity Group is seen at a gaming fair in Macau, China November 18, 2015. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

HONG KONG, July 7 (Reuters) – Shares in Macau’s Suncity Group Holdings Ltd more than tripled on Thursday after they resuming trading for the first time in nearly two months and the firm said Executive Director Andrew Lo was its new majority shareholder.

At 0201 GMT, the shares had given up some of the gains but were still up 182%, valuing the company at around $130 million.

The company’s previous chairman, Alvin Chau, faces charges including illegal gambling and money laundering and is due to be tried in September in the world’s biggest gambling hub Macau. Chau has been detained pending his trial, while Suncity has denied wrongdoing.

Suncity, a Macau junket operator which brings in high rollers to gamble in the city’s VIP parlours, has been hit by a series of blows, from Chau’s arrest last year to the collapse of Macau’s VIP gambling industry. read more

Beijing has taken aim at illegal capital outflows from the mainland, cracking down on the opaque junket sector and secretive banking channels.

Macau’s government has tried to rein in the role of the junket operators with a new law barring dedicated junket rooms in casinos. Their influence is likely to be further diluted going forward, analysts have said.

Reporting by the Hong Kong newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Kenneth Maxwell

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