Universal Entertainment head Kazuo Okada is trying to get under the skin of arch-nemesis Steve Wynn with a new motion for a preliminary injunction against the casino business firm. Okada is requesting the rights of his subsidiary, Aruze USA, as largest shareholder in Wynn Resorts is restored to way it was before. The claims almost always come with added mudslinging and in that sense this filing didn’t disappoint. Okada accuses Wynn of “fraud, deception, theft and betrayal” to maintain control over his business. The filing continues, adding that Wynn’s General Counsel Kimmarie Sinatra has carried out a “series predicate acts of racketeering” which include “fraud”, “acquiring property and signatures under false pretences”, as well as “other similar wrongful activities”.
For anyone that’s been lost in the desert for the past six months, the case relates to the removal of the largest shareholder, Okada, from the board. At the same time his shares were redeemed at a heavily discounted rate in February with the excuse given that he’d showered Philippines regulators with gifts. Even before Okada made his latest announcement, Wynn were busy organizing a special shareholder meeting and the subject will be Okada. We can’t imagine that it’s just going to involve signing a rather large leaving card either.
In other Wynn news, the company’s Macau subsidiary is hoping to increase the loan on its Wynn Cotai development to $2.5 billion. The increase is being sought after they drew around $2.7 billion in the first stage of syndication and is pushing double the original goal of $1.5 billion. It goes a long way to satisfying the cost of the Cotai project – estimated to be circa $4billion.
A U.S. mutual fund has decided to sell swathes of shares in two Macau casino business firms and in the process raise $250 million, one of which is Wynn Macau. Waddell & Reed Financial Inc have put their shares in both Sands China (41 million shares) and Wynn Macau (55.5 million) with buy it now prices of between HK$24.18 to HK$24.68 and HK$17.53 to HK$17.90 respectively. Bloomberg report the sale of the century is happening “as revenue growth slows and the companies expand in Macau”. There’s also the small matter of W&R’s $1.1 billion per year stake in Formula One.
