Studio City takes USD359m in US IPO

Studio City International Holdings Ltd. raised USD359 million in its U.S. initial public offering, pricing its shares at the top of the Macau casino and resort company’s targeted range.

Studio City sold 28.75 million American depositary shares for $12.50 each Wednesday after pricing them at $10.50 to $12.50, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The listing may provide a lift for Macau’s gaming industry, which has been beset by increased government scrutiny, potential economic fallout of China-U.S. trade tensions and, in September, Typhoon Mangkhut.

An index of six Macau gaming companies has fallen 29 percent this year. Las Vegas Sands Corp., the biggest gaming company on U.S. exchanges, has fallen more than 17 percent, while second- ranked MGM Resorts International is down 16 percent and Wynn Resorts Ltd. has plunged 30 percent.

The Studio City casino in Macau has 250 gaming tables and about 970 machines, as well as VIP gambling facilities, a hotel, family entertainment center, nightclub and 5,000-seat arena, according to the company’s IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company lost $15 million on revenue of $282 million in the first half of the year, compared with a loss of $47 million on revenue of $254 million for the first six months of 2017, according to the filing‘1.

The public listing will be accompanied by a private placement to Melco International, an affiliate of the company that operates Studio City. The American depositary shares will represent four ordinary Class A shares, according to the filing. After the IPO, Melco Resorts, through another entity, will control at least 50.1 percent of the shareholder voting interest of Studio City.

The offering was led by Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley. The shares are expected to begin trading yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MSC. Bloomberg