ShareHighstakes Hong Kong poker player Stanley Choi this week bought into AirAsia Group's massive fundraising exercise, boosting the share value of the low cost carrier, as well as his own chunk of the Malaysian airline group.
Choi is one of the most successful businessman/poker players among the highstakes community, scooping the 2012 Macau High Stakes Challenge Super High Roller tournament back in 2012.
That impressive debut win saw him lift a whopping HK$50million, equivalent to $6,465,574 , finishing ahead of a field including Phil Ivey, Sam Trickett and John Juanda.
A regular at the highest stakes cash games in Macau, Choi – full named Stanley Choi Chiu Fai –made his fortune in real estate operations covering hotels, casino, leisure and entertainment and is a noted financier and mergers and acquisitions specialist.
This week’s news saw Choi pump almost $18million (R114.46 million) into AirAsia’s private placement through his private equity vehicle, Positive Bloom Ltd.
That gave Choi 167.1 million shares, or a 4.17% stake, almost doubling his holding, which now stands at 8.96%. News of Choi’s investment also boosted the share value by up to 16%.
Poker-loving Choi’s business dealings have been at the centre of several big stories recently, most notably a scandal involving English football club Wigan Athletic.
Choi’s International Entertainment Corporation company bought Wigan Athletic in October 2018 and sold them in June 2020 to Next Leader Fund (NLF), a company which Choi was also the majority shareholder of, until he sold it on.
Within a week, the new owner, Au Yeung Wai Kay, claimed that the financial situation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for the football club going into administration.
That, however, was perhaps not the real reason behind the decision, Choi embroiled in a potential betting scam…
Choi’s plans for his AirAsia Group shareholding are as yet unclear.
