SJM shareholders approve HKD1.75 billion L’Arc Hotel acquisition

In a landslide vote at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) yesterday morning, shareholders of SJM Holdings Ltd. greenlit the HKD1.75 billion (USD 224 million) acquisition of L’Arc Hotel’s owner, Arc of Triumph Development Company Limited.

According to the company’s filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Dec. 15, 2025, the resolution passed with 99.93% approval from independent shareholders. Of 6,527,536,267 eligible shares, 4,294,970,368 votes favored the deal, with just 2,942,144 opposed.

SJM wrote, “As more than 50% of the votes were cast in favor of the Resolution, the Resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution.”

According to the filing, Computershare Hong Kong Investor Services Limited served as scrutineer. Angela Leong On Kei, co-chairman and the largest individual shareholder of SJM Holdings, abstained from voting on her 574,269,099 shares.

“As of the date of the EGM, the total number of issued Shares was 7,101,805,366. Deputada Leong On Kei, Angela, a director, has a material interest in the Resolution proposed at the EGM and was required to abstain; she abstained from voting on the Resolution at the EGM,” the filing reads.

The deal, detailed in an acquisition agreement dated Nov. 20, 2025, involves SJM Holdings Limited and SJM Resorts, S.A. purchasing Arc of Triumph Hotel Management Company Limited and Le Royal Arc Property Management Company Limited. Vendors are listed as Goldarch Holdings Limited and Solar King Investments Limited, with Leong as guarantor.

The deal also ratifies a HKD 177.525 million secured loan to Leong, backed by a share charge.

Attending directors at yesterday’s EGM included Daisy Ho, Timothy Fok Tsun Ting, David Shum, Patrick Tsang On Yip, Norman Ho Hau Chong, Marina Wong Yu Pok, and Howard Yeung Ping Leung.

In compliance with regulations phasing out satellite casinos by 2025, the move sees L’Arc transition from a third-party operated status under SJM’s license into a venue directly owned by SJM.

According to a Nov. 20 press release announcing SJM’s acquisition of L’Arc Hotel, the asset encompasses “a gross floor area of approximately 86,438 square meters and includes hotel accommodation, food and beverage outlets, retail, and the premises of Casino L’Arc Macau.”

SJM skipped a similar bid for Ponte 16, which closed Nov. 28.

The company announced in a separate press release on Nov. 20, “SJM Resorts has entered into a mutual termination agreement with Pier 16 Entertainment Group Corporation Limited that will bring forward the cessation of services at Casino Ponte 16.”

Casino venues directly owned by SJM now include: Casino Lisboa, Grand Lisboa, Grand Lisboa Palace, Oceanus, and L’Arc.

Yield synergies, or expose vulnerabilities

Industry analysts and gaming experts say mass-market competition in Macau has intensified since October, especially on the peninsula, where most former satellite casinos were located. With that shift and as operators jostle for position, questions are mounting over how much market share SJM Holdings will ultimately be able to defend.

SJM recently revamped its Crystal Palace zone at Casino Lisboa to reclaim share from former satellite dominance. Gaming consultant and managing partner of IGamiX, Ben Lee, told the Times that there is a stark Peninsula-Cotai divide.

“The gravity well shifted to Cotai a while ago, leaving Peninsula casinos to die-hard gamblers who care only for gambling,” Lee said, adding, “Not only that, the cluster effect of having so many casinos within a stone’s throw of each other would have enhanced that gravity even more.”

Lee also drew a sharp contrast in design and atmosphere.

“The casinos on the peninsula are modern and mono-aesthetic, whereas you can find a plethora of different themes and diverse offerings in Cotai, like an adult Disneyland,” he said. The pull of Cotai’s themed resorts and broader non-gaming mix, he suggested, has further weakened the peninsula’s appeal to the mass market.

“SJM seems to suffer from an apparent lack of singular vision and direction,” the gaming expert said, citing Grand Lisboa Palace’s “seemingly haphazard interior layout and random design” as a symptom.

“Their (SJM) strength has always been in satisfying the needs of the hardcore gambler, and perhaps the Crystal Palace rejuvenation is a recognition of that.”