Crown sells Melco Crown shares, hands Lawrence Ho control

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is selling more of its stake in Melco Crown Entertainment (MCE) and scrapping its Las Vegas casino project.

On Wednesday, Crown sought a halt in trading in its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange after alerting investors that it was selling 198m shares in the MCE joint venture to Hong Kong-listed developer Melco International Development, which is owned by MCE CEO Lawrence Ho.

The sale represents 13.4% of outstanding shares in MCE, which operates casinos in Macau and Manila. Crown said it expects the sale to realize a payday of around A$1.6b (US $1.2b), “subject to upward adjustments for interest” if the deal isn’t closed by March 1, 2017.

Crown plans to use half of its windfall to pay down its net debt. Another A$500m will be returned to shareholders via a special distribution, while the remaining A$300m will enable a share buy-back program.