The government in the West African island nation of Cabo Verde says it has terminated the concession for Hong Kong-listed casino services firm Macau Legend Development Ltd to develop and operate a casino resort there.
The authorities said Macau Legend “flagrantly and repeatedly” breached its obligations regarding the project’s development, reported on Tuesday Portuguese news agency Lusa.
“Taking into account that Macau Legend flagrantly and repeatedly breached its obligations (…) the state of Cabo Verde has no option other than to resolve” the concession contract, said the news agency, citing a decision issued by the country’s council of ministers.
“Cabo Verde gave Macau Legend companies every opportunity to resume work or to negotiate the sale of shares or [effect] the assignment of their contractual position to a potential interested [party] in continuing the project,” added the statement. It said no alternatives were put forward by the company.
Macau Legend’s casino resort was to be located on a 152,700 square-metre (1.6 million sq.-foot) land plot in Praia, Cabo Verde’s capital, on Santiago Island.
The company officially began construction in early 2016, for what was described at the time as a EUR250-million (US$264.9-million currently) project. The Cabo Verde scheme (pictured in an artist’s rendering) was to include luxury hotels, a casino, a conference centre, and a marina.
The decision by the council of ministers, signed by the country’s prime minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, stated that “the contractual breaches perpetrated by Macau Legend 카지노사이트 occurred at various levels”, giving the Cabo Verde government “the right to terminate the framework agreement, as well as the contracts derived therefrom”.
The decision was published on Monday in the nation’s Official Bulletin, together with the ordinance of the Ministry of Finance and Business Development that determines the reversion of the land plot and other assets that had been transferred to Macau Legend. All assets already built there by the company also reverted to the state.
The Cabo Verde authorities also claimed that Macau Legend “breached” the country’s legal regime for the exploitation of gaming, “by transferring, without authorisation from the government of Cabo Verde, the ownership of more than 20 percent” of the firm’s capital.
That referred to the sale of a 20.65-percent stake in Macau Legend, in September 2020, to businessman Levo Chan Weng Lin, making him the largest individual shareholder in Macau Legend. In April 2023, Mr Chan, formerly head of the now-defunct Macau casino junket Tak Chun Group, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in Macau, for a number of gambling-related crimes. In January this year, his sentence was reduced to 13 years in aggregate.
Macau Legend owns a tourism complex called Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, a waterfront area close to the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal on Macau peninsula. The venue features a casino called Legend Palace, promoted by Macau Legend under a so-called services agreement with Macau licensee SJM Holdings Ltd.
Macau Legend posted a net loss of just above HKD109.9 million (US$14.1 million) for the first half of 2024, on revenue that rose by 16.5 percent year-on-year, to HKD390.4 million.
In May, the company completed the disposal of its Laos casino resort, Savan Legend Resorts in Savannakhet, Laos. In Friday’s filing, Macau Legend said it recorded a profit of HKD75.0 million from the discontinued operation during the reporting period.