{"id":777012504,"date":"2024-01-19T09:39:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T12:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777012504"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:50:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:50:39","slug":"summit-sells-crystal-tiger-licence-due-to-russia-ukraine-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/summit-sells-crystal-tiger-licence-due-to-russia-ukraine-conflict","title":{"rendered":"Summit sells Crystal Tiger licence due to Russia-Ukraine conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Summit Ascent has confirmed the US$116m sale of G1 Entertainment, the Tigre de Cristal casino licence holder, citing uncertainties from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Russia.- <strong>Summit Ascent Holdings<\/strong> has confirmed that one of its majority-owned subsidiaries will sell <strong>G1 Entertainment<\/strong>, the gaming licence holder of <strong>the Tigre de Cristal casino resort<\/strong> in the Russian Far East, for US$116m.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company has revealed the decision was made due to \u201cuncertainties arising from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict,&#8221; despite the \u201cdisapproval\u201d of most of the board at Summit Ascent and its Hong Kong-listed parent Let Group Holdings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The stock of Summit Ascent has been in trading suspension<\/strong> on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since January 11 and will remain suspended \u201cpending the publication of the inside information announcement\u201d as defined under bourse rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Summit Ascent and LET Group had previously announced on January 15 that only casino investor&nbsp;<strong>Andrew Lo Kai Bong&nbsp;<\/strong>had remained as a director and chairman for both companies after the other directors of the respective firms had resigned due to \u201cdisapproval\u201d of the deal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a statement released on Wednesday, Summit Ascent said: \u201cThe disposal will\u2026 proceed in view of the uncertainties arising from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and related sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, which are adversely affecting the operations and prospect of G1 Entertainment.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last August,&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/summit-ascent-posts-us2-1m-net-loss-in-h1\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Summit Ascent Holdings<\/a>&nbsp;posted a net loss of HK$16.1m (US$2.1m) for the first half of the year. The primary factor was&nbsp;<strong>exchange losses&nbsp;<\/strong>amounting to approximately HK$35.2m stemming from fluctuations in the Russian ruble, with its fall contrasting to HK$157.1m in exchange gains in the first half of 2022.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company\u2019s revenue from gaming and hotel operations at Tigre de Cristal rose by 2.3 per cent year-on-year to HK$182m. Revenue from gaming operations declined from HK$167.6m to HK$167.3m. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) fell 5 per cent year-on-year, to HK$57m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/summit-ascent-to-sell-tigre-de-cristal-licence-for-us116m\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The initial information about the sell-off exercise in the G1 Entertainment entity<\/a>&nbsp;came from Taiwan firm Firich Enterprises on January 10. Its unit Firich Investment has a 20 per cent stake in Oriental Regent, with 77.5 per cent owned by Summit Ascent. Firich Investment\u2019s share of the proceeds is said to be US$28m.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The buyer of G1 Entertainment is Russian entity\u00a0<strong>Dalnevostochniy Aktiv<\/strong>, according to a filing by Firich Enterprises to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are currently two casinos in the Primorye Gambling Zone in Russia. Summit Ascent\u2019s\u00a0<strong>Tigre de Cristal\u00a0<\/strong>opened to the public in 2015. It was followed almost five years later by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/russias-shambala-casino-to-open-on-friday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shambhala<\/a>, which opened at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summit Ascent has confirmed the US$116m sale of G1 Entertainment, the Tigre de Cristal casino licence holder, citing uncertainties from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Summit Ascent Holdings has confirmed the US$116m divestment of G1 Entertainment, the Tigre de Cristal casino license holder in Russia, citing significant operational uncertainties stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and associated sanctions. This strategic exit proceeds despite board disapproval, impacting the company's financial performance and leading to a trading suspension on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.","focusai_entities":"Summit Ascent Holdings, G1 Entertainment, Tigre de Cristal, Let Group Holdings, Andrew Lo Kai Bong, Firich Enterprises, Firich Investment, Oriental Regent, Dalnevostochniy Aktiv, Shambhala","focusai_location":"Russia, Russian Far East, Primorye Gambling Zone, Hong Kong, Taiwan","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.75), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.98), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Board Disapproval Rationale?","query":"What specific strategic or valuation discrepancies underpinned the board's initial disapproval of the G1 Entertainment sale, and what are the potential long-term implications for Summit Ascent's corporate governance framework?"},{"label":"Financial Impact Analysis?","query":"How will the US$116m divestment of G1 Entertainment, coupled with the reported net loss and EBITDA decline, impact Summit Ascent's consolidated balance sheet, future capital allocation strategy, and shareholder value?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16331],"tags":[23701,22436],"class_list":["post-777012504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-elsewhere-news","tag-summit-ascent","tag-tigre-de-cristal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777012504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777012505,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012504\/revisions\/777012505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777012504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777012504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777012504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}