Shareholders in the Macau New Century Hotel remained deadlocked yesterday despite the resumption of limited booking services that were temporarily suspended on Monday amid an ownership dispute.
Back-to-back press conferences were held for the second day running by representatives of the two shareholders, Chen Meihuan and Ng Man-sun, who is recovering in hospital from a brutal, triad-style attack.
Chan Pui-ching reiterated that Chen Meihuan, her sister, owned 80 per cent of the shares in the hotel and that Ng was trying to take back control of the operation.
She said the dispute started last year when Ng asked Chen Meihuan to let him return to running the business, which she had turned from a heavily indebted operation into a profitable one.
But Lee Soi-peng, representative of the Macau gambling tycoon also known as Ng Wai, said the shares had been transferred to Chen to help her secure two plots of land on Taipa Island on the understanding they would be returned if she failed to get the land.
'Chen pleaded with Ng to transfer 80 per cent of the hotel's shares to her for applying for the use of Taipa land plots numbers 7 and 8 in September 2011,' Lee said.
'She promised that if she could not get the two plots within six months, she would return the 80 per cent share to him unconditionally.