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Delegates to the XIX Havana Cigar Festival look at a box of cigars at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba in 2017: Photo: Agence France-Presse

Macau gambling executive linked to mysterious US$1 billion Cohiba cigar deal

  • Imperial Brands agrees to sell its cigar business to newly formed Hong Kong-based company Allied Cigar Corp
  • Buyer has executive ties with Macau’s biggest casino junket operator, corporate registry filings show
Macau
The buyers of Imperial Brands Plc’s premium cigar business, including world-renowned Cohiba, have been shrouded in a smoky veil of secrecy. But one group of investors is being fronted by a Hong Kong businessman who helps run some of Asia’s biggest gambling operations.
Imperial agreed on April 27 to sell its premium cigar business outside the US to Allied Cigar Corp for 1.04 billion euros (US$1.1 billion) part of a disposal of its high-end cigar portfolio that also includes the Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo brands.

A spokesman for UK-listed Imperial declined at the time to provide details on the suitor, while the cigarette maker’s management described the acquirers as “the right long-term owners” for the cigar business in a statement.

Allied Cigar, a private firm incorporated in Hong Kong on March 10, counts Chiu King-yan as board member, with Chiu Ping-shun and Joyce Lam as co-directors, the city’s corporate registry filings show.

Chiu King-yan is the chief financial officer of SunCity Group Holdings, the publicly traded unit of Macau’s biggest junket operator, which extends credit to casino high rollers. The registry does not have any details on the ownership of Allied Cigar.

There has been no evidence to suggest SunCity is directly involved in the Imperial Brands transaction.

A representative for SunCity said the Allied Cigar deal is not related to Suncity Group and any of its affiliated business, and declined to make Chiu available for an interview. Imperial Brands declined to comment for this report.

While the identities of parties in a deal can sometimes be obscured by layers of holding companies, it is very rare in a transaction as large as this for their identities to remain a secret.

Macau junket king places a bet on Japan amid a slowdown in world’s gambling hub

The fact that the cigar deal includes the sale of Imperial Brands’ 50-50 joint venture in Cuba, which distributes and sells the Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo brands, adds to the intrigue. Cuba has been isolated by US sanctions for decades, making it difficult if not impossible for companies to do business in both countries.

Investors in Imperial Brands seemed unperturbed by the mystery, bidding up the shares as much as 4.8 per cent on April 27, the day the deal was announced. They have fallen nearly 14 per cent this year, less than the almost 22 per cent plunge in the FTSE 100 Index.

SunCity Group is controlled by chairman Alvin Chau, an entrepreneur whose businesses span across entertainment and travel. It owns a majority stake in Summit Ascent Holdings, the firm behind Tigre de Cristal, a hotel and casino complex near Vladivostok, Russia.

SunCity has been expanding outside Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub. It is operating a US$4 billion Vietnam casino resort project and is also looking for investment opportunities in the Philippines, Cambodia and Japan.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: HK businessman LINKED to massive CIGAR DEAL
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