Asian casino developer Landing International Development seeks to raise a net cost of HK$137.1 million ($17.7 million) through a share placement exercise. Separately, it reported a net loss of HK$2.13 billion for 2019, up 204 percent from a year earlier.
In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, the company said the funds raised through the stock placement exercise would be used to "general working capital of the gaming business and integrated leisure resorts and interest expenses in Jeju Island, South Korea."
Landing International created a resort on Jeju Island in Korea with a foreigner-only casino called Jeju Shinhwa World (pictured). The facility's gaming space, Landing Casino, opened in February 2018.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily closed casinos across markets in key gaming jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region, including South Korea. However, landing casinos are still open, GGRAsia confirmed by phone on Tuesday.
On the same day after trading in the stock market, the group agreed to place nearly 587 million shares at HK$0.235 each, according to Monday's filing. They will be offered to at least six parties described as third parties related to the company.
Assuming that there is no change in the capital of the Company's outstanding shares between the date of disclosure and the date of completion of the exercise, the maximum purchase of shares is 20% of the capital of the outstanding shares of Landing International and approximately 16.67% of the outstanding shares as of the date of disclosure.
In a separate Tuesday data, Landing International said the increase in group net losses in 2019 was mainly due to a significant drop in net profit from its gaming business. Other factors included a loss in the fair value of investment properties, lower interest income and higher financial costs, an increase in depreciation costs following the gradual opening of the Jeju Shinhwa World complex, and impairment losses on sales and other bonds.