Melco Crown share trading suspended ahead of fund raising

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Trading of shares of gaming company Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corporation (MCP) was suspended beginning 9 am, Wednesday, June 18, ahead of a planned fund-raising activity.

“Melco Crown… would like to request the voluntary suspension of trading of the corporation’s shares of stock in the PSE starting on the opening of trading on June 18, 2014 in anticipation of an announcement of a possible fund raising exercise that will be made which may materially affect market activity as well as the trading prices of the shares,” MCP told the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

The PSE approved the trading suspension, which will be lifted 9 am, Thursday, June 19.

MCP, a subsidiary of Melco Crown Entertainment Limited of Hong Kong, is developing City of Dreams Manila, a casino, hotel, retail, and entertainment resort in the government-sponsored Entertainment City.

MCP said it would conduct a top-up placement to help finance the hike in the budget for the casino project to P37 billion ($838.43 million) from P28 billion ($636.08 million).

This will be the company’s second fund-raising activity after its P15-billion ($340 million) private placement in December.

MCP said the company’s controlling shareholder, MCE (Philippines) Investments Ltd., would sell existing common shares to investors.

No other details were provided, such as the number of shares to be sold and the timetable for the fund-raising activity.

But a Bloomberg report said the company would offer as many as 485.2 million shares at P11.30 to P11.70 each.

The casino project will have 6 hotel towers, with VIP and luxury boutique rooms; numerous specialty restaurants and bars; gaming facilities; a multi-level car park; and 3 separate entertainment venues.

City of Dreams, set to open in the fourth quarter of 2014, will be the second casino project to operate in Entertaintment City.

Share of MCP closed at P12.18 per share on Tuesday, June 17. – Rappler.com