John Wang, vice chairman of Summit Ascension, steps down

Hong Kong Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd., the promoter of the Russian casino resort Tigre de Crystal, has announced the resignation of Vice Chairman John Wang.

The company said in a filing on Thursday that Mr. Wang had resigned as executive director and vice chairman since April 12 "due to other business agreements".

"Mr. Wang has no disagreement with the board and has confirmed that there is nothing else to pay attention to the stock exchange regarding his resignation," Summit Ascension said.

The company expressed in the filing that it was "sincerely grateful to Mr. Wang for his valuable contributions to the group during his tenure."

According to Summit Ascent's 2017 annual report, Mr. Wang has been the company's executive director since March 2011. He was appointed vice chairman in July 2013, and before that, was chairman from March 2011 to July 2013.

It is a matter of public record that Mr. Wang was a business colleague of Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, an Asian casino entrepreneur. Mr. Wang held top positions at companies led by Mr. Ho, including casino operator Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd and its parent company, Melco International Development Ltd. Mr. Ho was a major shareholder of Summit Ascent until mid-2017, when he began selling his stake in the company.

As of the end of 2017, Wang was the company's second-largest shareholder with a 10.84% stake in the company, according to Summit Ascent's 2018 interim report. Although it reduced its stake to 5.0% by June 30, 2018, it remained the group's second-largest shareholder.

On Monday, Summit Ascent's largest single shareholder, First Steamship, confirmed it was considering divesting its stake from an undisclosed suitor, as Summit Ascent reported earlier this month.

The Taiwanese conglomerate said it would realize at least HK$429 million (US$54.7 million) from the deal to achieve an asking price of HK$1.50 (US$0.191) per share, representing gains of about HK$123 million, excluding taxes and other related processing costs.

Summit Ascent last month reported a profit of HK$7.6 million for the full calendar year of 2018, about HK$13.8 million from a year earlier. Summit Ascent said in its March results it would soon revise its design and financing of Phase 2 of Tigred Crystal and aimed to open in summer 2021.

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