Saipan casino operator agrees pair of share deals: Updated
The operator of Saipan’s temporary Best Sunshine Live casino, Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited, has announced that its majority shareholder is set to provide it with an interest-free loan worth approximately $19.3 million.
Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited is a subsidiary of British Virgin Islands-registered Inventive Star Limited, which is owned by businesswoman Cui Li Jie, and is currently in the process of constructing The Grand Mariana Casino Hotel And Resort on the same Pacific Ocean island. It revealed in a financial filing that the deal will see its parent offload one billion shares each worth HK$0.15 (US$0.02) to “strategic partners” before loaning the proceeds to its subordinate interest-free for two years in order to finance “general working capital”.
Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited, which holds the exclusive rights to operate a casino on Saipan, is spending some $500 million to construct The Grand Mariana Casino Hotel And Resort via its own Best Sunshine International subsidiary and has previously pledged to invest as much as $7.1 billion in the Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands.
The same filing revealed that Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited has also conditionally agreed to sell one billion of its shares to Ally High Limited in order to bring in an additional $19.3 million. The acquired stocks will give the British Virgin Island-registered entity controlled by a person known as Wu Mui approximately 0.71% of the casino operator’s business while the proceeds are to be earmarked to help offset a loan for the same amount previously granted by Ally High Limited.
“The directors are of the view that the subscription will provide a good opportunity to strengthen the financial position and broaden the shareholder and capital base of the group so as to facilitate its future development,” read the filing from Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited.
According to a report from EJ Insight, which is the English-language edition of the Hong Kong Economic Journal, the casino firm is additionally lobbying the government of the United States to raise the ceiling on the permitted numbers of overseas workers in the Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands to 18,000. The current cap for those allowed in under the “CW-1” program stands at 12,999 but Mark Brown, Chief Executive Officer for Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited, explained that his firm already employs some 3,000 non-native employees at its temporary Garapan venue and wants to increase this number to as many as 15,000 following the opening of The Grand Mariana Casino Hotel And Resort on January 28.
This article has been updated to reflect the correct number of requested CW workers as being 18,000 rather than the 20,000 previously quoted.