ESun Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong listed media company and one of the investors in the planned USD2.4 billion Macao Studio City (MSC) project on Cotai, says it expects to post a net deficit for 2008, although it didn’t specify the size of the loss.
The news puts a further dampener on prospects for MSC, which had already been officially delayed until 2011.
ESun is under pressure from one of its institutional investors. The US-based hedge fund Passport Capital LLC claims eSun has been underperforming even relative to the current bear market. Passport has a 28.3 percent stake in eSun and in December last year successfully applied to a Hong Kong court to block a HKD177 million share issue planned by the business.
The eSun net deficit for 2008 is linked to losses incurred by Lai Sun Development, a Hong Kong real estate investment company. ESun owns 36.7 percent of Lai Sun.
ESun’s 2007 net profit was HKD896 million, the company said. Lai Sun’s net profit for the fiscal first half to 31st January 2008 was HKD882.8 million.
ESun is a key partner in MSC via a complicated equity structure. It holds 66.7 percent of East Asia Satellite Television (EAST) Holdings (the rest of the EAST equity is held by the Singapore developer CapitaLand). EAST in turn has a joint venture partner called New Cotai LLC made up of US investors David Friedman; Silver Point Capital, L.P., a private US-based investment firm, and Oaktree Capital Management, LLC, a global independent investment management firm.
The JV partners own the development company Cyber One Agents Ltd on a 60:40 basis in favour of EAST. If it does get built and as proposed, Macao Studio City will include a performance venue for Chinese pop stars managed by eSun as well as the obligatory casino and hotels.
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