Imperial Pacific International Holdings, the parent company of embattled Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC, has confirmed its shares will officially be delisted as of 17 June 2024 following an order from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In a filing, IPI said it had received a letter from the Stock Exchange informing it that the last day of listing of the company’s shares would be 14 June 2024, with the listing to be cancelled with effect from 9am on 17 June. This follows the discontinuation of judicial review proceedings launched by IPI in February through which it had argued against the decision by the Stock Exchange to delist its shares. The delisting had originally been planned to come into effect on 22 February.
IPI said Tuesday that although its shares will no longer be listed, the share certificates of the shares shall remain valid. It added that the company will no longer be subject to Stock Exchange Listing Rules.
The delisting comes just two months after a Hong Kong court ordered IPI to be wound up, with a provisional receiver appointed. IPI had previously received two winding up petitions for alleged failure by the company to settle judgement amounts totalling more than US$3 million.
Its Saipan subsidiary is also facing the revocation of its casino license, despite having used a variety of tactics to delay any such action by the local regulator including most recently filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
IPI’s integrated resort development, Imperial Palace Saipan, has been shuttered since February 2020 and its casino license suspended since April 2021 for failure to pay mandatory license and regulatory fees.
IPI’s various woes and many and varied delaying tactics were the subject of IAG’s May 2024 issue editorial.