South Shore shareholder seeks to wind up the company

A substantial shareholder has called for a special general meeting next month.

Macau.- South Shore Holdings, owner and operator of THE 13 hotel, has been asked to hold a special general meeting next month by Global Allocation Fund, a substantial shareholder of the company, with intentions to vote on winding up.

The Global Allocation Fund holds 101,339,084 shares – a 10 per cent stake in the company. It wants the company to close due to “the net liabilities position of the Group, the suspension of operations of the Hotel and the poor performance of the Hotel generally.”

South Shore said: “The Requisitionist expresses its belief that the remaining value in the Company will best be maximized with an independent unwind process supervised by a court.”

The company recently announced plans to sell THE 13 before the end of its financial year on 31 March 2021. Despite the influence of Global Allocation Fund, South Shore expects to continue with the plans.

It said: “Shareholders and investors of the company holding some 25% of the issued share capital of the company have expressed their opposition to the winding up of the company.

“Given this opposition, the board expects that it is almost a certainty that the proposed resolution will not be passed by the requisite majority.”

According to South Shore, with a winding-up resolution “the value of the Company would be irreversibly destroyed, with likely no recovery for shareholders”.

It said: “The Company has worked hard to stabilize the position in respect of bank loans in the principal amount of approximately HK$2.84 billion that are currently due. In particular, it continues to seek prospective buyers for the Hotel and to work with its bank on appropriate remedial action.

“In the meantime, the Board sees no benefit to Shareholders in taking action that might disrupt the otherwise satisfactory performance of the Group’s engineering and management contracting business.”