Summit Ascent to provide $62mln loan to former Suncity parent company LET

Summit Ascent, Tigre de Cristal, Primorye

Summit Ascent, the operator of the Tigre de Cristal in Russia’s Vladivostok, has granted a loan to its parent company LET Group Holdings for HK$500 million ($62.02 million).

LET Group, formerly known as Macau’s primary junket operator Suncity, notes that the move is shift funds which had originally been allocated to the development of Phase 2 of its Tigre de Cristal property.

The group notes that the ‘impact of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict has severely affected the economy in Russia and the ability for tourists to freely travel into and out of Russia, which in turn severely affects the outlook of Tigre de Cristal’.

The conditions have led to the suspension of the second development of the property, with the previously allocated funds ‘nor required for immediate use’.

The loan provision is still set to be approved by a shareholder meeting.

LET is directly or indirectly a controlling shareholder of Summit Ascent, holding 69.66 percent of its shares. LET’s major shareholder (holding 74.98 percent of the shares) Lo Kai Bong is also a common director of Summit Ascent.

Under the proposed agreement, LET may draw up to HK$50 million ($6.2 million) per tranche of borrowing, using it to repay existing loans and liabilities and cover working capital.

The loan will be calculated at a 6 percent annual rate, with a default interest rate of 8 percent per year. The loan will be available for 18 months and must be paid back within three years.