Laos casino tender involving Macau groups terminated

The tender for the sales process for the Savan Vegas Hotel & Entertainment Complex in Laos has been terminated by the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Government, according to a company general announcement by RGB International Bhd.
RGB International Bhd originally out of Penang, Malaysia owns RGB (Macau) Limited, an electronic gaming machine maker, and was one of the six businesses shortlisted for the purchase and operation of Savan Vegas Hotel & Entertainment Complex, located in Savannakhet Province bordering northern Thailand. The tender company shortlist also included Iao Kun Group Holding Co. Ltd., an investor in casino junket room operations in Macau and Australia; and Macau Legend Development Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed casino services firm with casino operations in Macau.
Bids were to be submitted on May 10 and the winning bid would receive the assets of the complex, and a concession agreement to operate it for a 50-year period, Business Daily reported, with the tender management awarded by the Laos Government to San Marco Capital Partners LLC, a U.S.-based private investment firm.
No reason was stated for the termination of the tender, but it came after Dutch-based Lao Holdings N.V., which previously owned 80 per cent of Savan Vegas through Sanum Investment, a Macau-incorporated company, filed three separate legal actions this week ‘in response to specific illegal actions by the Government of Laos and its agents’ in regard to Lao Holdings’ investments in Laos, specifically related to the casino resort, according to a press release by the company.
Seeking repayment
The first action seeks to reopen a claim dating to 2012 for US$890 million, with Lao Holdings accusing the Laos Government of having violated its investor agreements by assessing huge taxes on their investment, Savan Vegas, and threatening to seize the hotel in payment, Business Daily reported.
The second motion requested a new arbitral tribunal to investigate if the casino seizure in 2015 that resulted from the first action was made in violation of international law and ‘breaches of the specific agreements that Laos made with these investors’ including the method of conduct on the sale.
The third action was directed at San Marco Capital Partners LLC, ‘and its sole owner and employee Kelly Gass’ who according to information published by Lao Holdings, ‘since the Government seized Savan Vegas,’ has ‘operated it, and is currently conducting a bidding process to sell it, for the Government’s sole benefit.’
Now Lao Holdings claims ‘significant monetary harm’ which should be determined at trial but is ‘exceeding US$100 million’ as well as ‘80 per cent of the net revenues of the Casino and 60 per cent of the net revenues of the Slot Clubs’.