Silver Heritage to resume trading after share offer exercise

Jul 04, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck, World  

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Trading in the shares of Australia-listed gaming operator Silver Heritage Group Ltd is set to resume after the company said on Tuesday it had completed the institutional component of an entitlement offer.

The company announced last week it was launching a fully underwritten accelerated renounceable entitlement offer. The funds would be used to complete its Tiger Palace Resort Bhairahawa casino venture, a scheme being built near Nepal’s border with India, the company had said.

The suspension of trading in Silver Heritage shares “will be lifted immediately” following announcement of completion of the institutional component of the entitlement offer, the Australian Securities Exchange said in a separate statement on Tuesday. The company’s shares will resume trading “on an ex-entitlement basis,” Silver Heritage said in its own filing.

The trading of Silver Heritage’s shares on the Australian Securities Exchange has been suspended since February 27.

“The institutional entitlement offer raised approximately AUD10.3 million (US$7.8 million). The retail component of the entitlement offer … is also fully underwritten, and will raise approximately AUD8.7 million (US$6.6 million),” Silver Heritage stated.

The company had previously said that the aggregate gross proceeds of the entitlement offer would be used to fund completion of the construction and fit out of Tiger Palace, to provide working capital, and to pay the costs of the entitlement offer.

Under the entitlement offer, eligible shareholders are entitled to subscribe for two new Silver Heritage shares for each existing share held as of July 4, at an offer price of AUD0.05 per new share, the company had stated last week.

The group – which runs casinos in Vietnam and Nepal – said that the 206,533,143 new shares taken up under the institutional entitlement offer are expected to be settled on July 7, and commence trading on July 10, 2017.

The entitlement offer was fully underwritten by financial services company Baillieu Holst Ltd. According to Tuesday’s filing, Baillieu Holst has entered into sub-underwriting arrangements with “certain existing Silver Heritage shareholders and directors”.

“Some of the sub-underwriters agreed to receive part or all of their sub-underwriting fees as shares in Silver Heritage at an issue price of AUD0.05 per share,” Silver Heritage said. “The sub-underwriters will be issued in aggregate 8,518,727 fully paid ordinary shares in Silver Heritage in partial satisfaction of their sub-underwriting fees,” it added.

The retail component of the entitlement offer is scheduled to open on July 7 and close on July 26, 2017, said the casino firm.

Silver Heritage had said previously that it “encountered unexpected delays and cost overruns in relation to the completion” of Tiger Palace. To address the situation, the company appointed in March a new project management team.

Silver Heritage has increased the construction budget for Tiger Palace by US$11.8 million, to US$51.8 million. The firm has also announced a revised timetable for the completion of the project, with a phased opening in September 2017 for the hotel and hospitality areas, and November 2017 for the entire resort, including casino operations.

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