The Sakai Trust, a family trust established by the recently deceased founder of NagaCorp, Chen Lip Keong, continues to hold directly and indirectly about 69.26 percent of the gaming group, the company announced recently.
The Cambodian gaming tycoon and founder of NagaCorp, passed away at the age of 75 recently, with his son Chen Yiy Fon, redesignated as Chief Executive Officer of the group with effect from 10 December 2023.
The Sakai Trustee currently directly holds 1,979,803,846 shares or 44.76 percent of the and 1,083,743,314 Shares, representing approximately 24.50 percent of the total number of shares through three of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, namelly Lender, LIPKCO Group Limited and LIPKCO ENTERPRISES LIMITED.
The family trust was purposely established by Dr. Chen as settlor for the purposes of succession planning and is entrusted with legal title to the trust assets for the benefit of Dr. Chen and his family.
The shares in NagaCorp previously held either directly or indirectly by the company’s founder, were transferred to this family trust created in July 2022.
Save for the re-designation of Chen Yiy Fon as the CEO, the NagaCorp board did not report any other change in its senior management team, with Philip Lee Wai Tuck remaining as Executive Director and with the dispatch underlining Chen would continue to ‘adhere to the business strategies laid down by the Board’.
The company also underlined in its recent dispatch that the passing away of Dr. Chen will not have any material impact on a previous agreement for the trust to loan $80 million to NagaCorp for refinancing and/or discharging part of the outstanding 2024 Notes upon their maturity.
The loan was provided via ChenLipKeong Capital Ltd, a privately held company registered in the Cayman Islands and directly owned by the trust.
On July 2020 and June 2021, NagaCorp issued notes of an aggregate principal
amount of $350 million and $200 million, respectively, with maturity on July 6, 2024, and an interest rate of 7.95 percent per year.
‘The Board is not aware of any circumstance that will or could prevent the Loan Agreement from remaining in full force and effective,’ the dispatch read.
The directly holds 2.57 percent of the total number of shares or about $45 million of the 2024 Notes.
NagaCorp operates NagaWorld, a casino resort monopoly in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. The group has recorded a 57.4 percent increase in net profit in the first half of this year, topping $83 million.
