Pansy Ho Trims Stake in MGM Resorts For a Cool $140 Million, Reduces Position to 2.26 Percent

Posted on: November 21, 2019, 12:19h. 

Last updated on: November 21, 2019, 12:29h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Pansy Ho, co-chairperson at MGM China Holdings Ltd., has reduced her financial stake in the company’s US-based parent, MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM).

Pansy Ho reduced her stake in MGM Resorts, but the stock didn’t seem to mind. (Image: South China Morning Post)

In sales conducted last week, Ho sold 4.5 million shares for $140.2 million of the Bellagio and Mirage operator’s stock, reducing her position in the US gaming giant to 2.26 percent from 3.13 percent, according to data from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Ho became a significant MGM shareholder in 2016, when the Las Vegas-based company boosted its stake in its China unit to 56 percent. At that time, she controlled 22.5 percent of MGM China. That stock will be removed from the widely followed MSCI Hong Kong Index later this month.

As consideration for the MGM China shares, the Company issued to Grand Paradise Macau’s (GPM) subsidiary Expert Angels Limited 7,060,492 shares of its common stock and paid consideration of $100 million,” said MGM Resorts in 2016.

According to her biography on the MGM China website, Ho serves as an executive director of GPM, a wholly owned subsidiary of MGM China.

Good Timing

Ho’s reduction of her MGM Resorts stake was well-timed. From Sept. 30 through Nov. 11, the day Ho initiated the selling process, shares of MGM jumped 13.4 percent.

Her average selling price was $31.15, according to data provided by the Hong Kong exchange, slightly below where the stock trades at this writing, but also nearly 30 percent above the June lows around $24.

For Ho, there might be something about November, because in that month last year, she dumped 11.06 million MGM shares, paring her stake in the company to 3.06 percent from 5.16 percent.

The MGM Grand operator’s stock is higher by 2.51 percent over the past week, gaining despite news of Ho’s reduced exposure to the name.

Earlier this week, Casino.org reported that MGM Growth Properties (NYSE:MGP), the gaming real estate investment trust (REIT) controlled by MGM, is preparing to sell 24 million shares of stock to potentially fund a deal with the gaming operator involving Mandalay Bay and the MGM Grand on the Strip.

Other Moves

While Ho is reducing her MGM Resorts exposure, she has made other moves this year to cement her status as one of gaming’s most influential names in the Asia-Pacific region.

In January, her real estate and transportation conglomerate Shun Tak partnered with four large investors, including her sister Daisy, in a holding company run by SJM Holdings to take majority control of the Macau operator.

The sisters and other investors framed the move as aimed at boosting operational efficiencies at SJM ahead of the 2022 Macau license renewal process. But there has been chatter the corporate action was designed with the intent of Daisy and Pansy controlling more of SJM than the eight percent owned by their step-mother, Angela Leong.

Prior to the most recent MGM divestment, Pansy Ho had an estimated net worth of $4.3 billion, making her one of the richest women in Hong Kong.