Black Spade, a SPAC backed by Melco’s chairman Lawrence Ho, applies to list in Hong Kong

Black Spade Asia Acquisition, with Ho’s Black Spade Asia and BOCHK Asset Management as its promoters, has filed to apply for a listing in Hong Kong

The company is the 11th SPACs that has applied to list in Hong Kong, and the second in a week filed by a local tycoon

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Lawrence Ho Yau-lung, chairman and chief executive officer of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd., speaks during an interview in Macau on May 15, 2018. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 10:00pm, 20 Mar 2022Updated: 10:02pm, 20 Mar 2022

Black Spade Asia Acquisition, an asset buyer backed by the chairman of Macau’s casino operator Melco Resorts & Entertainment, has applied to raise capital in Hong Kong, joining 10 other so-called blank cheque companies on the city’s exchange.

Black Spade, backed by Melco’s chairman and chief executive Lawrence Ho Yau-lung, as well as BOCHK Asset Management, has applied to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange (HKEX), according to a filing.

The company is the 11th special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to seek listing in Hong Kong, and the second to file in a week after the application by A SPAC (HK) Acquisition, backed by New World Development’s chief executive Adrian Cheng Chi-Kong. Aquila Acquisition, the first SPAC to list in Hong Kong, fell 3.2 per cent in its trading debut on Friday.

SPACs are created – and typically anchored by well-known public figures, including celebrities, sports icons and famous entrepreneurs – with the objective of raising capital to buy assets within a period. In Hong Kong, a SPAC needs to raise at least HK$1 billion (US$128 million) and must announce a deal within 24 months.

An exterior view of the Morpheus hotel, part of the Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd.’s City of Dreams casino resort, in Macau on May 15, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ho, whose net worth was estimated by Forbes at US$1.25 billion last month, is the 46th richest man in Hong Kong. He is the son of the late Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun, who died in May 2020.

The younger Ho aims to transform the traditional casino business into a hospitality and entertainment industry, and extend its reach outside Macau to the Philippines and Russia.