Macau’s Court of First Instance has officially declared failed luxury hotel THE 13 bankrupt.
The ruling comes some 20 months after parent company South Shore Holdings applied to the Macau court for voluntary liquidation of its wholly-owned subsidiary New Concordia Hotel Limited, the sole beneficial owner of THE 13 Hotel, amid increasing pressure from its lenders.
It also comes with South Shore officially due to be delisted from the Hong Kong Exchange on Thursday, having failed to trade for the past 18 months.
The Court of First Instance stated in the Macau Gazette that Chevalier International Lifts Engineering (Macau) Limited had filed a claim against THE 13 Hotel, however the company has instead been declared bankrupt and given 60 days to settle its debts under the Civil Procedure Code.
The brainchild of long-departed Chairman Stephen Hung, THE 13 had been envisioned as an uber-luxury hotel with space for 66 VIP gaming tables aimed at capitalizing on Macau’s booming VIP segment of the early 2010s. Instead, a series of funding and construction delays saw the property open in September 2018 with no gaming and with a number of rooms unfinished – all at a cost of US$1.6 billion.
South Shore revealed in October 2021 that it had ceased all operations and was insolvent following a statutory demand issued by one lender demanding payment of HK$3.28 billion (US$423 million) in outstanding loans and interest or face a winding up petition against the company.
Long-time Chairman Peter Coker Jr, who stepped down from the company in October 2022, was arrested in Thailand in January after being charged by the US Department of Justice with stock market manipulation.
