After first being announced more than a year ago, Suncity Group has once again delayed completing the purchase of a resort project in Vietnam. In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last Wednesday, the company said that it won’t be able to close the deal until the end of August.
Suncity, which is run by Macau junket investor Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, first entered into the purchase agreement in July 2017. It said at the time that it would be investing $76.8 million for a 34% stake in the project. Last December, it pushed the deal’s closing back to March 31 and subsequently announced another delay, moving the date to July 31. With a little bit of luck, perhaps it will be able to fulfill its stated obligations by August 31.
In the Wednesday filing, Suncity indicated that the completion of the sale is contingent upon the developer, Hoi An South Development Ltd., receiving approval by the bank from which it had borrowed to build the resort. The bank still has not given that approval, but Suncity believes it will happen before the end of this month.
The resort will be built in Hoiana in central Vietnam. There will be a total of seven phases of construction, the first of which will include a casino with 1,000 slot machines and 140 gaming tables, a hotel and a golf course.
The purchase is somewhat convoluted in nature. A subsidiary of Suncity, Goal Summit Ltd., will acquire the 34% stake through the purchase of 100% of Star Admiral Ltd. Star Admiral is being sold to Goal Summit by Suncity, of which 100% is owned by Chau.
The Vietnam casino comes following a 2015 agreement between Suncity, Vinacapital and Chow Tai Fook Group Golden Yield Enterprise. The project will reportedly carry a $4-billion price tag and is expected to be a huge step forward for gambling in the country.
Last month, Suncity said that it was interested in expanding to other parts of Asia and to move from being a gaming promoter to an operator by the year 2020. However, meeting this goal is going to be difficult as long as there are continued delays in the closing of deals.
