Best Sunshine prepares for shares sale; Amax optimistic about Vanuatu casino project

Best Sunshine prepares for shares sale; Amax optimistic about Vanuatu casino project

Best Sunshine International Ltd., which hopes to build a resort casino on the island of Saipan, is in the process of raising $100 million as working capital. Best Sunshine, through its parent company Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited has entered a placing agreement for 510 million new shares at a price of $0.20 per share.

Best Sunshine prepares for shares sale; Amax optimistic about Vanuatu casino projectAccording to its filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Imperial Pacific has come to an agreement with placing agent United Simsen Securities Limited to issue the shares on a “best-effort basis.” The placing comes with a 7.19% discount to the closing price of $HK1.67 per share. United Simsen will be taking home 2% of the gross proceeds of the share sale as commission.

“The proceeds from the placing will be used as the general working capital of the group, including financing the relevant costs and expenses of the Saipan Integrated Resort Project,” Imperial Pacific said in a statement. Once completed, the company will have a total of 8,514,925,480 shares with Inventive Star Limited holding 70.51% of all the shares.

Imperial Pacific estimates it will need to spend $7.1 billion building the integrated resort on Saipan. The company said it needed $336.5 million in working capital to get the project off and running.

“The company intends to satisfy the estimated annual development costs under the business plan, the annual fee and the community chest contribution by equity and/or debt financing.”

Over in Vanuatu, Macau junket operator Amax Holdings is moving ahead with plans to open a casino destination in the island. Amax got the ball rolling on its plans last October when it successfully secured a deal to buy 60% of Forenzia Enterprises at a price of HK$48 million ($7 million). The  British Virgin Islands-based investment holding company holds a 50% stake in a company called Chartreuse, which owns a gaming license in Vanuatu.

“The company has full confidence in the high potential of Vanuatu and is well-poised to absorb the unfulfilled demand by establishing a casino operation there,” the company told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Amax also announced a loss of HK$18.4 million ($2.3 million) in the first half of the fiscal year that ended September 30. The company’s turnover also declined from $2.53 million to $2.44 million, largely because of what the company explained as “increases in general and administrative expenses and finance costs during the period under review.”