LET Group has begun the process repopulating its Board of Directors following a mass exodus in January with the addition of three new directors – including two of the directors who formed part of the exodus in question.
In a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing, the company named Mr Tou Kin Chuen, Mr John Lo Wai Tung and Mr Johnson Fu Chi King as non-executive directors, joining Chairman Andrew Lo Kai Bong in the boardroom.
Both Tou Kin Chuen and Lo Wai Tung had resigned from the board in January but have now signed new one-year appointments from 2 May 2024.
Fu Chi King is a former banking executive for the likes of Hang Seng Bank (China) Limited and Rabobank Netherland, and has sat on the boards of multiple listed companies.
However, trading in LET Group shares remain suspended at the order of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), which revealed in February it held “serious concerns about the conduct” of management of LET Group Holdings and its subsidiary Summit Ascent Holdings in relation to the planned sale of the entity that controls its Russian integrated resort, Tigre de Cristal.
The SFC issued a statement at that time in which it confirmed it had directed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to suspend dealings in the shares of both LET Group and Summit Ascent due to concerns regarding the “very substantial disposal”, which it believes was conducted without the necessary approval of shareholders.
It also expressed concern that, after completion of the disposal, both companies may not have a business with a sufficient level of operations and assets of sufficient value to support their operations to warrant a continued listing status, given that Tigre de Cristal has been their primary source of income pending the ongoing development of an integrated resort in Manila.
That disposal, which was to see the company dispose of its shares in G1 Entertainment LLC – the operating entity of Tigre de Cristal – to a local Russian company identified as Dalnevostochniy Aktiv LLC, has since fallen through.
However, the attempted disposal by LET Group and Summit Ascent saw the directors of the two companies stage a mass resignation, leaving Andrew Lo as the only remaining board member of each. Lo assumed control of LET Group, formerly known as Suncity Group, following the arrest and imprisonment of Alvin Chau in late 2021.
It is unclear if the SFC has received a response from LET Group or Summit Ascent in relation to its failure to consult the Takeovers Executive and meet requirements under the Takeovers Code to engage in such activities, including obtaining shareholders’ approval of the disposal in a general meeting.
“It appears to the SFC that the [disposal] has not complied with the above-mentioned requirements,” the SFC said in February. “In particular, the sale and purchase agreement relating to the [disposal] had been executed and the completion of which was not made subject to obtaining the required approval of shareholders.
“The SFC has asked LET and Summit Ascent to address its concerns by providing an undertaking that the completion of the [disposal] is made conditional on shareholders’ approval and in full compliance with the relevant rules and regulations. However, both companies have failed to respond to the SFC. The SFC also has serious concerns about the conduct of the two companies and their management.”
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