Macau’s Court of First Instance has again put properties owned by former Suncity Group Chairman Alvin Chau’s up for auction, although the asking price for the 34 properties in question has been lowered from a previous auction to around MOP$300 million (US$37.3 million).
The court first put 36 property items, comprising 31 parking spaces and five commercial properties in the Caesar Fortune building in Taipa, up for auction in July 2023 at a combined price of MOP$600 million (US$74.6 million). However, due to a lack of bidders, a second public auction was scheduled for February of this year.
Five months later it appears just two of those 36 items were successfully sold, with the Court of First Instance now prepping for yet another auction of the 34 remaining properties comprising 31 parking spaces and three commercial properties.
The significantly reduced auction prices include 30 parking spaces at MOP$1,066,050 (US$132,470), the other at MOP$1,019,700 (US$126,710), and the three commercial units at MOP$49,965,300 (US$6.21 million), MOP$66,373,200 (US$8.25 million) and MOP$159,073,200 (US$19.8 million) respectively.
The bidding deadline is set for 21 October this year with an auction date of 22 October.
This latest auction comes after the Macau Court of Final Appeal confirmed on 3 July that Chau was required to see out his 18-year prison sentence and that he and eight other defendants would be required to jointly pay compensation of HK$24,865,076,094 (US$3.1 billion) to the Macau government.
As the Court of Final Appeal is the final appeal court in Macau, this was the final judgment in the case and the court will therefore continue to sell the assets of the nine defendants, including Chau, in order to recoup the required compensation.