a little news on one of SII's investments: Lai Sun chasing Golden Harvest
STORY: LAI SUN Hotels International, renaming itself eSun.com Holdings, may buy a 35-per-cent stake in Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings) from Village Roadshow, Australia's largest cinema company for A$64.2 million (HK$302.3 million).
Sydney-based Village said the sale was conditional on the consent of Golden Harvest founder and chairman Raymond Chow, who has yet to make a decision.
Golden Harvest, which distributes and exhibits movies in Asia, is 64-per-cent owned by a joint venture owned by Village and Mr Chow.
Village managing director Graham Burke said: ``Village Roadshow is now totally focused on its core business of exhibition, production, radio and theme parks, and continuing to hold shares in Golden Harvest is not consistent with our plans.'
Village has been trying to simplify its structure so it can concentrate on its radio, cinema and theme park businesses.
It said it would continue to maintain a relationship with Golden Harvest via its current exhibition ventures in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In December, it agreed to buy Golden Harvest's Thai and South Korean cinema companies and a 50-per-cent stake in the company's four Hong Kong cinemas.
``This transaction will allow Village Roadshow to divert its resources into territories such as South Korea and Greece that are showing enormous potential,' Mr Burke said.
Lai Sun Hotels shares were suspended from trading in Hong Kong yesterday pending an announcement of the purchase of a stake in an un-named listed company.
On Tuesday its stock fell 14 cents, or 11.2 per cent, to $1.11.
Lai Sun Hotels, which owns hotels in Asia, has been shifting its focus towards information technology, agreeing last week to exchange a 5.3-per-cent stake in itself for 0.7 of a per cent in Cheung Wah Developments, the Hong Kong arm of Japan's Softbank.
Lai Sun Hotels would buy the Golden Harvest stake at $1.28 per share.
Lai Sun Development, a medium-sized Hong Kong real estate developer, owns 52 per cent of Lai Sun Hotels.
In September 1998 action star Jackie Chan resigned as a non-executive director of Golden Harvest, which first went public in 1994.
The company's privately-owned parent Golden Harvest Group, a movie producer also controlled by Mr Chow, was noted for launching the careers of actor Bruce Lee and director John Woo and for pioneering the Hong Kong kung fu movies of the 1970s.
Golden Harvest shares were suspended from trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday pending a statement about ``a potential change in its shareholding.' - Bloomberg
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