Gaming giant dealt a poor hand in Hong Kong IPO

The big firms were on hand Wednesday to see through the off-again-on-again Hong Kong listing of Macau gaming magnate Stanley Ho’s SJM Holdings. Baker & McKenzie was retained as lead counsel for SJM with Linklaters and Shearman & Sterling Hong Kong and US counsel respectively for underwriters Deutsche Bank AG.

 

The float comes after a tumultuous few months for casino operator SJM in which its stock market debut was both postponed and downgraded. Market volatility, increased competition from US casino operators Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, and legal action brought by Ho’s estranged sister challenging the validity of the offer all contributed to delays and were also influential in derailing earlier forecasts that the IPO would raise US$1bn. Instead, this series of unfortunate events saw SJM settle for less than half of that, raising only US$494m.

 

And while SJM shares traded at HK$3.04 – just below its IPO price of HK$3.08 –

the recent liberalisation of Macau’s US$15bn gaming market and the Chinese Government’s attempts to restrict the numbers of Mainland Chinese tourists visiting Macau are likely to keep SJM shares around the HK$3.00 mark in the months ahead.