Only a week after announcing that it had secured a parcel of land for the purposes of building its third casino in Nepal and Silver Heritage Group Limited has now reportedly been granted a temporary suspension to the trading of its stock on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Firm focused on ‘capital raising’:

According to a report from GGRAsia, this is the second time in the last 19 months that Silver Heritage Group Limited has been granted such a halt and comes as the Hong Kong-headquartered firm is endeavoring to complete a ‘capital raising’ exercise associated with the plan for its envisioned Nepalese venue.

Planned portfolio expansion:

Established in 2003, Silver Heritage opened its Tiger Palace Resort Bhairahawa in January while also being responsible for The Millionaire’s Club and Casino inside Kathmandu’s Shangri La Hotel and Resort. Last week saw the Sydney-listed operator, which runs the Phoenix International Club near Hanoi, complete a deal worth approximately $3.2 million for an 18.4-acre plot in the agriculturally fertile Jhapa District of Nepal for the purposes of constructing its Tiger Palace Resort Jhapa development.

Final terms ‘still being finalized’:

In an official Monday filing, the group reportedly explained that the trading suspension was necessary because the final terms of its efforts to bring in more cash were ‘still being finalized.’ It furthermore detailed that the halt was ‘pending the release of an announcement regarding a capital raising and amendments to the terms of bonds.’

Losses mount despite revenues upturn:

In an associated trading update (pdf), the casino operator reportedly declared that its total losses for the six months since the start of 2018 had risen by over 182% year-on-year to reach in excess of $9.9 million principally due to ‘the additional costs and depreciation associated with’ the opening of its Tiger Palace Resort Bhairahawa venue…

In addition, it proclaimed that the half-year period had seen it deal with ‘additional interest expenses no longer capitalized following the completion’ of this $40 million project although its total revenues for the period had swelled by 40.2% to hit $11.2 million.