{"id":160698,"date":"2021-01-08T10:40:22","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T18:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=160698"},"modified":"2021-01-08T12:08:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T20:08:09","slug":"snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow Lake Founder Ma Says MGM Letter Prompted by Breakdown in Board Discussions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snow Lake Capital founder Sean Ma said the letter he sent earlier this week to the board of MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) urging the gaming company to sell 20 percent of its equity in MGM China Holdings (OTC:MCHVF) came about after failed talks with the board.<\/p>\n

\"Snow
MGM Cotai in Macau, seen here. Activist investor Sean Ma could be forceful in his approach with MGM Resorts. (Image: Macau Daily Times<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a Thursday interview with Chinese network 36Kr<\/em>, Ma didn’t hold back. He said that while he’s open to further discussions with MGM, he could take a more forceful approach if necessary. Snow Lake, a Hong Kong-based asset manager, owns 285.4 million common shares of MGM China, equivalent to 7.5 percent of the shares outstanding<\/a>, making Ma’s firm the largest institutional investor in the Macau gaming entity.<\/p>\n

In the letter, the Snow Lake founder pitches the idea of the Bellagio operator selling 20 percent of its MGM China shares to a Chinese consumer internet or travel and leisure company. The letter further said that such a move would create value for investors in the Macau business while generating cash for the US-based company’s Japan and online gaming\/sports betting ambitions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas-based MGM owns 56 percent of the China business, making it the largest shareholder. Pansy Ho, the daughter of the late Macau gaming scion Stanley Ho, is the second-largest investor.<\/p>\n

Stalled Talks<\/h2>\n

On Wednesday, MGM confirmed receipt<\/a> of Ma’s letter, saying that it remains committed to its operations in the world’s largest gaming center and that it appreciates \u201ccontinued constructive engagement with MGM China shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

That may not be enough to assuage Ma. In the media interview, the Snow Lake founder said he made calls to MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle and deemed the executive’s attitude on the matter of selling part of the China business not positive. Ma also said that MGM could benefit from bringing on a Chinese partner ahead of the 2022 Macau gaming permit renewal process<\/a>, but he’s concerned the company isn’t taking his pitch on that front seriously enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The licenses for MGM Grand Macau and MGM Cotai expire in 18 months, confirming the new tendering process is \u201cquite imminent, however MGM Resorts is not taking this seriously enough,\u201d said Ma.<\/p>\n

In the letter to the MGM board, Ma mentions Huazhu Group, Meituan, Sunac China Holdings, and Trip.com as \u201csuitable candidates\u201d for acquiring 20 percent of MGM China and he claims there are more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have spoken to several of them, and they are very interested and willing to discuss further,\u201d <\/strong>he said in the interview. \u201cAs a long-term investor, I am firmly optimistic about the long-term development of Macau. In the long run, compared to Las Vegas, I think this market is far from saturated.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Battle Brewing?<\/h2>\n

Ma doesn’t go into detail regarding what his next moves would be if MGM continues rebuffing his idea. However, he is clear that it’s not his intent to move the Las Vegas company out of the Macau unit entirely.<\/p>\n

Typically, activist investors angle for board seats to better position themselves to affect the change they desire. Ma has a long relationship with MGM China President and COO Hubert Wang and said that if Pansy Ho approaches him about joining the board, he’d be obliged.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For its part, MGM has previously deftly dealt with activist investors<\/a>, some of which remain on the company’s board. Those market participants pushed the gaming company to cash in on its premium Las Vegas real estate and move to an asset lite model, something they were successful in accomplishing because the company’s Sin City real estate portfolio is now small while its balance sheet is one of the strongest in the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snow Lake Capital founder Sean Ma said the letter he sent earlier this week to the board of MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) urging the gaming company to sell 20 percent of its equity in MGM China Holdings (OTC:MCHVF) came about after failed talks with the board. In a Thursday interview with Chinese network 36Kr, Ma […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":160699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSnow Lake Founder Ma may Get Forceful with MGM on China Stake Sale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Snow Lake Capital activist investor Sean Ma is getting testy with MGM regarding sale of 20 percent of China business.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Snow Lake Founder Ma may Get Forceful with MGM on China Stake Sale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Snow Lake Capital activist investor Sean Ma is getting testy with MGM regarding sale of 20 percent of China business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-08T18:40:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-08T20:08:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mgm3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1314\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/\",\"name\":\"Snow Lake Founder Ma may Get Forceful with MGM on China Stake Sale\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mgm3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-08T18:40:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-08T20:08:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Snow Lake Capital activist investor Sean Ma is getting testy with MGM regarding sale of 20 percent of China business.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mgm3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mgm3.jpg\",\"width\":1314,\"height\":706,\"caption\":\"MGM Cotai in Macau. Activist investor Sean Ma could be forceful in his approach with MGM Resorts. (Image: Macau Daily Times)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Snow Lake Founder Ma Says MGM Letter Prompted by Breakdown in Board Discussions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Snow Lake Founder Ma may Get Forceful with MGM on China Stake Sale","description":"Snow Lake Capital activist investor Sean Ma is getting testy with MGM regarding sale of 20 percent of China business.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Snow Lake Founder Ma may Get Forceful with MGM on China Stake Sale","og_description":"Snow Lake Capital activist investor Sean Ma is getting testy with MGM regarding sale of 20 percent of China business.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-01-08T18:40:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-08T20:08:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1314,"height":706,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mgm3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/","name":"Snow Lake Founder Ma may Get Forceful with MGM on China Stake Sale","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mgm3.jpg","datePublished":"2021-01-08T18:40:22+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-08T20:08:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Snow Lake Capital activist investor Sean Ma is getting testy with MGM regarding sale of 20 percent of China business.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mgm3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mgm3.jpg","width":1314,"height":706,"caption":"MGM Cotai in Macau. Activist investor Sean Ma could be forceful in his approach with MGM Resorts. (Image: Macau Daily Times)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/snow-lake-founder-ma-may-get-forceful-with-mgm-on-china-stake-sale\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Snow Lake Founder Ma Says MGM Letter Prompted by Breakdown in Board Discussions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}