Showing posts with label Chua Ma Yu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chua Ma Yu. Show all posts

Thursday 22 December 2011

Rajaratnam Ordered to Pay $92.8 Million Penalty


BY PETER LATTMAN

Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of Galleon Group, enters Manhattan federal court in May 2011.Louis Lanzano/Associated PressRaj Rajaratnam, co-founder of Galleon Group, enters Manhattan federal court in May 2011.
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the convicted hedge fund titan Raj Rajaratnam to pay a $92.8 million penalty, the largest ever assessed against a person in aSecurities and Exchange Commission insider trading case.
Combined with the fines and forfeitures ordered last month when he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for insider trading, Mr. Rajaratnam will be paying a total of $156.6 million.
“The penalty imposed today reflects the historic proportions of Raj Rajaratnam’s illegal conduct and its impact on the integrity of our markets,” said Robert S. Khuzami, the S.E.C.’s head of enforcement.

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Legal experts say the S.E.C. fine against Mr. Rajaratnam is noteworthy because in many cases judges will not impose such substantial civil penalties against a defendant who has already been sentenced and ordered to pay stiff criminal fines.
Mr. Rajaratnam’s lawyers argued that given the financial penalties imposed in the criminal case — a $10 million fine and $53.8 million in forfeited profits — additional civil penalties were unwarranted.
Judge Jed. S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan.Fred R. Conrad/The New York TimesJudge Jed. S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff, the presiding judge in the S.E.C.’s case against Mr. Rajaratnam, rejected that notion.
“This misapprehends both the nature of this parallel proceeding and the purposes of civil penalties,” Judge Rakoff said in his order. “S.E.C. civil penalties, most especially in a case involving such lucrative misconduct as insider trading, are designed, most importantly, to make such unlawful trading a money-losing proposition not just for this defendant, but for all who would consider it.” He added that it was a warning that, if caught, “you are going to pay severely in monetary terms.”
Judge Rakoff arrived at the $92.8 million figure by imposing the maximum penalty under the law of three times Mr. Rajaratnam’s illegal gains at his hedge fund, the Galleon Group.
“This case cries out for the kind of civil penalty that will deprive this defendant of a material part of his fortune,” he said.
The S.E.C. brought a parallel civil lawsuit against Mr. Rajaratnam in the Federal District Court in Manhattan on the same day in October 2009 that the Justice Department charged him with orchestrating a giant insider trading scheme. At the time, Mr. Rajaratnam was one of the most powerful hedge fund managers; Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $1.5 billion.
It is unclear how much money Mr. Rajaratnam has left. Judge Rakoff said that he reviewed the government’s presentence report, which is not public, and said that Mr. Rajaratnam’s net worth “considerably exceeds” the penalties imposed in the criminal case. A federal jury in Manhattan convicted Mr. Rajaratnam in May.
Mr. Rajaratnam’s total fines and forfeiture paid to the government are among the largest ever paid by an individual white-collar defendant. Still, it pales in comparison to Michael Milken, the 1980s junk bond financier, who paid $600 million in fines and restitution along with his guilty plea on securities law violations. Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former chief executive of Enron, was ordered to forfeit $60 million for his role at the collapsed energy company, an amount that is still subject to his legal appeals.
Separately on Monday, in a hearing before Judge Rakoff, the S.E.C. said it wanted to question “one or both” of Mr. Rajaratnam’s brothers in an insider trading case against Rajat K. Gupta, a former Goldman Sachs director who was indicted last month on charges that he passed illegal stock tips to Mr. Rajaratnam.
One brother, Rengan Rajaratnam, has been named an unindicted co-conspirator of Mr. Rajaratnam. The other brother, Ragakanthan, who goes by R.K., kept an office at Galleon. Neither has been charged with any crimes.


Friday 25 September 2009

Quek and Chua invest US$150mil in HK IPO

Friday September 25, 2009
Quek and Chua invest US$150mil in HK IPO
By YEOW POOI LING


PETALING JAYA: Tycoons Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan and Tan Sri Chua Ma Yu have agreed to take part in the initial public offering (IPO) of Wynn Macau Ltd on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by investing US$80mil and US$70mil respectively.

Quek’s investment is via Guoco Management Co Ltd and GuoLine Group Management Co Ltd, which are indirect subsidiaries of Hong Leong Co (M) Bhd, while Chua’s vehicle is CMY Capital Markets Sdn Bhd.

It is learnt that these Malaysian parties are going in independently. Chua is an investor and the attraction in Wynn is purely seen as a China play.

Chua was unavailable for comment.


In the listing document, Wynn Macau said CMY’s stake could amount to almost 5% of the offered shares while Guoco and GuoLine could collectively hold 5.3% based on a mid-point offer price of HK$9.30 and assuming the over-allotment option was not exercised.

Wynn Macau, owned by US-based Wynn Resorts, is among the biggest gaming operators in Macau and caters mainly to high-end clientele. The IPO involves floating 1.25 billion shares at HK$8.52-HK$10.08 each.

Other investors include Hong Kong tycoons Walter Kwok and Thomas Lau, as well as fund management company Keywise Capital Management (HK) Ltd.

Quek, the sixth richest man in Malaysia based on Forbes Asia Malaysia Rich List 2009, is not new to the gaming business. His Hong Kong-listed entity, Guoco Group Ltd’s subsidiary, has gaming operations in Britain.

Chua, on the other hand, owned a stake in Star Cruises Ltd briefly in 2007.

Macau is the world’s largest gaming market based on gross gaming revenue and the only place in China with legalised casino gaming.

Last year, Macau attracted 22.9 million visitors, mostly from Hong Kong and mainland China. The gaming market generated HK$105.6bil in gross gaming revenue, double the amount of Las Vegas Strip. For the first six months, Macau generated HK$49.9bil in gross gaming revenue. In 2008, Wynn Macau took a 16% of Macau’s table revenues and a daily gross win per gaming table of about HK$119,000. Its listing, targeted for Oct 9, will make Wynn Macau the first American company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

A local research house said the IPO would unlock the value and boost the valuations of Wynn Resorts.

“Currently, the simple average price-to-earnings (PE) for 2010 of gaming companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is 66.9 times versus Wynn Resorts’ PE of 74.1 times in the United States. If Wynn Resorts’ PE were to expand, it would also boost valuations of regional gaming companies,” it said.

Wynn Macau is currently adding new VIP areas with 35 more high-limit slot machines and 29 VIP table games at the private gaming salons. These are expected to open in the first quarter of 2010.

A new resort, Encore, is also under way, which costs about HK$5bil and is expected to open in the first half of next year. These expansions should increase Wynn Macau’s VIP table games by 44%.

Meanwhile, Wynn Macau is still awaiting approval for its application to lease a 52-acre site in Cotai for the development of an integrated casino and a five-star resort.

Macau’s gaming business was hurt when China, in May 2008, limited travel by its citizens to Macau to once a month, and later extended the limit to once every two months.

However, there have been reports that the Chinese Government was easing restrictions, starting from those in Guangdong province travelling to Macau.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/25/business/4776752&sec=business


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