The board at Entertainment Gaming Asia is playing its cards close to its chest in face of an unsolicited cash offer by Melco International Development for all outstanding shares of common stock in the company.
The offer is through Melco’s subsidiary EGT Nevada Holding and was published on May 5, since when EGA has remained silent. On Friday it said no more than that it “expresses no opinion and remains neutral” towards the offer.
On the same day EGA issued paperwork to the authorities and to shareholders outlining its stance “due to the significant overlap between the board and the board at Melco.”
It continued: “Because of these significant overlaps, the board believes that with the exception of one director, all board members have an actual or potential conflict of interest in evaluating the offer.” It therefore believed that it was up to each shareholder to make his own decisions on the offer.
Entertainment Gaming Asia is an indirect, majority-owned subsidiary of Melco International and leases electronic gaming machines to the industry in the Philippines. It is also developing a free-to-play online social gaming platform for the Asian markets.
Melco is headed by Lawrence Ho and its Melco Crown Entertainment is a developer, owner and operator of casino gaming and casino resort facilities in Asia.
