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The
Business Times, 1 Apr 04
Australian casino operator seeks listing
on Sesdaq
by Serena Ng
Lasseters unlikely to face opposition that NagaCorp did.
As Singapore mulls over the feasibility of a casino, an Australian
casino operator is one step closer to succeeding in the local stock
market where Cambodian company NagaCorp failed last year.
Lasseters International, whose key shareholders are Malaysians, yesterday
lodged its preliminary prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore
(MAS) for a sale of 45 million new shares for a listing on Sesdaq.
Lasseters has already received the green light from the Singapore
Exchange. The development comes after nearly a year of work on the
planned initial public offering, Khong Choun Mun, head of investment
banking at HL Bank, told BT yesterday.
According to earlier reports, Lasseters, which runs a casino hotel
in Alice Springs and has interests in three taverns and a resort,
had earlier hoped to launch its IPO here before the end of last year.
Last year, Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp failed to list here
when the MAS refused to register its prospectus on concerns over the
adequacy of its internal controls against money laundering. The MAS
also said NagaCorp's operations were not subject to a fully developed
and implemented legal and supervisory framework for the regulation
of casinos.
Yesterday, Mr Khong said Lasseters is governed by Australia's regulations,
and has in place 'stringent anti-money-laundering mechanisms that
meet international standards'. 'Last year when the MAS refused to
register NagaCorp's prospectus, it had nothing to do with the nature
of the business they were in, but more about what jurisdiction and
regulatory guidelines they were governed by. 'The gaming industry
in Australia is very tightly regulated, and there are a lot of checks
and balances in place to tackle fraud and money laundering,' he added.
Lasseters, which earned net profit of A$2.4 million (S$3.1 million)
in FY2003 and A$2.3 million in FY02, hopes to use around A$3 million
of the net proceeds from its IPO to repay outstanding loans to Westpac
Banking Corporation and the National Bank of Australia. The rest of
the proceeds will be used for working capital and to fund business
expansion. |
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