Cotai’s casino Louis XIII groundwork to be done by May

Lau was speaking at a special general meeting of the firm held at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, on Wednesday. At the meeting shareholders voted to approve a new fund raising exercise for the approximately US$1.06 billion project.

Under it, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board – one of the existing investors in the project – has agreed to subscribe toUS$38.7 million worth of convertible bonds that can be turned into shares later. The convertible bonds have a zero coupon and a maturity date of February 5, 2025.

The conversion price for the bonds is HK$8.23 per share – the same as the placement price of up to 17,172,000 specific mandate shares also being placed in the fund raising exercise. The aim there is to raise a maximum aggregate of HK$141.33 million.
Construction of the casino resort, located on the Cotai-Coloane border, should be finished by the second quarter of 2016, said Lau.

He added the developer would “have enough capital” by then to finish the project.Union Gaming Research Macau – which has been covering the stock since August – said in a note in November it expected that talks between a mainland bank and Louis XIII for a project loan would be quickly concluded and enable the scheme to be fully funded.

Another Union Gaming Group unit – Union Gaming Advisors – is acting as U.S. consultant on the latest convertible bond and mandate shares exercise. Walter Power, Louis XIII Holdings’ chief executive, said after Wednesday’s meeting that the company would “focus on the Macau development in the future” and had no intention of exploring other markets at present.