Hong Kong’s SFC still taking legal action against gaming entrepreneur Andrew Lo, despite asset unfreezing order

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) still plans to pursue proceedings against gaming industry entrepreneur Andrew Lo Kai Bong (pictured in a file photo), according to a Friday notice. The legal action under Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Ordinance is due to start in September next year. That is notwithstanding the payment on October 20 this year of HKD146.9 million (US$18.7 million) into court. The sum equalled the amount covered by freezing orders made against Mr Lo and an entity called Major Success Group Ltd. As a result of the payment, worldwide freezing against Mr Lo – chairman, executive director and controlling shareholder of LET Group Holdings Ltd and Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd – and against Major Success Group, have been lifted, said the SFC in its Friday update. The legal action planned by the SFC for next September is against Mr Lo, LET Group Holdings, and Summit Ascent Holdings. The latter two firms had until September last year been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. They have been linked to a range of casino-business assets in Asia-Pacific. SFC proceedings had been started in September 2024. In the legal proceedings, the SFC is seeking, “among other remedies”, a share repurchase order “to protect the interests of independent shareholders of LET and Summit Ascent”, per the Friday statement. The SFC is also seeking the appointment of a “receiver and/or manager” over LET Group and Summit Ascent to “facilitate the sale of certain land assets or interests in related subsidiaries to fund the share repurchase”. The shares of LET Group and Summit Ascent were listed on the main board of the Hong Kong bourse in February 2007 and January 1994 respectively and were delisted on September 1, 2025, per the SFC’s update. Summit Ascent is a subsidiary of LET Group, with 69.66 percent of its shares indirectly held by LET Group. The SFC noted that before their delisting, LET Group and its subsidiaries, including Summit Ascent, were “principally engaged in the development and operation of a resort in the Philippines; the operation of a hotel and gaming business in Russia; property development in Japan; and the management and operation of malls in mainland China”. Per an April 2025 filing in Hong Kong, LET Group – via a Philippine entity called Suntrust Resort Holdings Ltd and its units – has been engaged in the development with a view to operation, of the “main hotel casino” at an under-development complex known Westside City, in Manila in the Philippines. In September 2025, it emerged that Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, a unit of Philippine conglomerate Alliance Global Inc, was effectively taking the lead in development of the Westside City scheme. Summit Ascent has also been involved in the operation of the hotel and gaming business at the Tigre de Cristal casino complex near Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.