Continuing to parcel out his empire following a very public family feud, Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho last week halved his stake in his flagship casino company SJM Holdings Ltd. to 0.09% from 0.18%, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal Online.
In an off-exchange transaction Thursday, the 89-year-old sold five million shares of SJM, according to a disclosure on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Also in an off-exchange transaction, according to another disclosure, the woman he calls his fourth wife, Angela Leong, acquired five million shares. Ms. Leong later bought an additional 750,000 shares through the market; the two purchases combined raised her stake to 8.21% from 8.11%.
Last month, Pansy Ho, the eldest daughter of Mr. Ho’s second wife, acquired a chunk of Mr. Ho’s property and transport flagship, Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., according to a statement from the company. Shun Tak said Ms. Ho, who is the company’s managing director, bought 36,285,523 shares from her father at market price, raising her stake to 12.67% from 11%. Based on Shun Tak’s closing price of HK$4.89 per share that day, the purchase came to HK$177.4 million (US$22.77 million).
Earlier this year, a family dispute burst into the open when Mr. Ho, who is in poor health, accused the children of his second wife of colluding with his third wife to steal the holding company that held the bulk of his assets. They denied his accusations. Mr. Ho said the dispute was settled in March.
