Melco Resorts & Entertainment $987 million share buyback

Overview:

• Crown Resorts has sold, through its wholly owned subsidiary Crown Asia Investments, its remaining shareholding in Melco Resorts & Entertainment (MRE) back to MRE.
• 165.3 million ordinary shares (equivalent to 55.1 million MRE American Depository Shares - ADS) have been bought back by MRE under the repurchase representing 11.2% of MRE's ordinary shares at a price of $7.04 per share or $21.11 per ADS.
• As a result, Crown no longer holds an interest in MRE or the Macau market, the shareholders' agreement between CAI and Melco International Development was terminated, and Crown no longer holds the right to appoint a director to the MRE board.
• The proceeds generated by the repurchase ($987 million) will initially be used to reduce Crown's net debt.
• MRE launched an offering of 27.8 million ADSs and 82 million ordinary shares in MRE.
• Under the offering, 16 million ADSs were purchased by the underwriters for resale in an underwritten offering and 82 million ordinary shares were delivered to Melco Leisure and Entertainment Group to satisfy obligations to return securities as part of cash-settled swap transactions entered into in December 2016.
• Crown has terminated each of the cash-settled equity swaps entered into in December 2016 that referenced approximately 27.3 million of MRE's ADSs and the cash-settled equity swap entered into in March 2017 that referenced 12 million of MRE's ADSs.

Katrin Kostadinova - Data analyst