Shares of Hong Kong-listed Wynn Macau rose yesterday on news that parent company Wynn Resorts has forcibly bought out the 20 per cent stake owned by Japanese gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada.
The stock rose 3 per cent to HK$20.90, while the Hang Seng Index dropped 0.3 per cent.
Okada's Universal Entertainment, meanwhile, fell by the daily maximum of 21 per cent, the biggest drop since its listing in September 1998, to 1,516 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo.
Wynn asked Okada, the largest shareholder of the Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts, to step down as a director and accused him of improper payments to Philippine gambling officials.
Wynn Resorts bought the stake owned by Okada and his associates at a 31 per cent discount after a year-long internal probe. The report following the investigation, chaired by former Nevada governor Robert Miller and former FBI director Louis Freeh, says Okada violated US anti-corruption laws as it uncovered US$110,000 of cash payments and gifts to gambling regulators.
Wynn Resorts said it also would recommend Okada's removal from the board of Wynn Macau.
