Pansy Ho (何超瓊), heir-apparent to the Macau casino empire run by her tycoon father Stanley Ho (何鴻燊), said yesterday she was studying a US ruling that she was an “unsuitable” partner for gaming giant MGM Mirage.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement also recommended that the company be “directed to disengage itself from any business association” with Pansy Ho, who owns 50 percent of the US$1.25 billion MGM Grand Macau.
The report was revealed in a filing by MGM to the US stock exchange late on Tuesday. The regulator did not give any reason for its findings in the filing.
PREPARING
Pansy Ho said in a statement she was aware of the regulator’s report to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which has the power to issue and revoke gaming licences in the state.
She said: “I and my advisers will need time to read and consider the contents of the report and decide how best to respond to it in due course.”
MGM Mirage’s partnership with Pansy Ho has been approved by regulators in four other US states — Nevada, Illinois, Michigan and Mississippi — where the company operates casinos, reports said.
The Financial Times said the regulator’s finding could jeopardize MGM Mirage’s license for its casino in Atlantic City, but the South China Morning Post quoted MGM as saying the recommendation was “not binding.”
KERKORIAN
Meanwhile, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian bought another 14.3 million shares in MGM Mirage on Tuesday, but that wasn’t enough to maintain his majority stake in the casino company as it issued new stocks, regulatory filings show.
Kerkorian paid nearly US$100 million for his portion of the 164.5 million new shares MGM Mirage issued, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The 91-year-old investor’s total holding of 163.1 million shares is just 38.9 percent of the Las Vegas-based company’s outstanding stock, down from 53.8 percent.
The offering netted US$1.1 billion toward MGM Mirage’s goal of raising US$2.5 billion in new capital.
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