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HONG KONG - THE sister of Macau billionaire Stanley Ho on Monday asked a Hong Kong court to review regulatory decisions allowing him to take his casino group public, according to court documents.
The company, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau Holdings (SJM), raised nearly nearly 500 million US dollars (S$682.38 million) in a pared-down initial public offering last week, reports said.
SJM was due to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Ms Winnie Ho, who is estranged from Mr Ho, asked the city's high court for a judicial review of decisions made by the stock exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission with respect to the IPO, according to the court documents.
She said the listing was illegal and 'contrary to the public interest and the longstanding policy of the Hong Kong government not to promote gambling'.
The listing has been repeatedly delayed due to Ms Winnie's bitter fight with her 86-year-old brother for control of the casino firm.
A spokesman for Ho's group said: 'SJM's listing will continue unless we are told to the contrary.'
At the Securities and Futures Commission, a spokesman said: 'We are confident that we have followed the process correctly. We look forward to presenting our case in court.'
The high court was expected to hold a hearing this week before issuing a decision on whether to grant Winnie Ho's request for judicial review.
SJM had initially hoped to raise one billion US dollars in an IPO in January, but postponed the plan due to a weak Hong Kong market. It then placed its shares on subscription offer from June 26 to July 2.
SJM hoped to use the cash raised to fund its plan to compete with the newcomers to Macau's gaming industry, which overtook the Las Vegas Strip in 2006 in revenues.
Mr Ho for decades held a monopoly on casinos in the former Portuguese colony, but the market was liberalised in 2002, allowing huge US operators like Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts to erode the mogul's market share. -- AFP
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