Hong Kong: Casino baron says shares transfer to his family is 'robbery'

The controversy erupted after casino operator Sociedade de Jogos de Macau Holdings (SJM) told the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday that Mr Ho, 89, had given nearly all his shares to five of his children and one of the three women he calls his wives.

Mr Ho - who also founded the Stanley Casino chain in the UK - has asked the family members to reverse the transactions and said if they don't, he will launch legal proceedings in Hong Kong's High Court, lawyer Gordon Oldham said.

"This is robbery," Mr Oldham quoted the tycoon as saying.

The family deny seizing Mr Ho's shares, saying the billionaire approved the transfer of his 32 per cent stake in a company that owns more than half of SJM. Mr Oldham said that Mr Ho did not sign any documents authorising the share dealings.

Mr Ho, who has 16 living children, had brain surgery in 2009 after suffering a head injury in a fall and spent seven months in hospital before being discharged in March last year. Formerly a sociable creature, he has rarely appeared in public since.

Mr Oldham added: "He feels very disappointed, he feels very distressed; the fact that an individual in the twilight of his life is having these squabbles amongst his second and third families, squabbling over his assets."

The latest developments appear to reflect a family power struggle, as Mr Ho had planned to equally divide his casino business among his children. The billionaire presided over the rise of Macau's casino industry during four decades until his monopoly was broken up by the Chinese government in 2002.

Foreign competitors, including those in joint ventures with some of his children, now operate in Macau, the world's most lucrative gambling market.

SJM, which operates 17 casinos and four slot machine lounges, is still one of the biggest players.

They have helped transformed Macau from a tranquil enclave into a pulsating hub of neon lights and playboy bunnies, with revenue streams that dwarf rival Las Vegas.

Mr Ho's lawyers said he "discovered much to his horror" that his 100 per cent ownership of Lanceford - which holds the 32 per cent stake in SJM's parent company - had been diluted after new shares were issued, reducing his share to 1 per cent.Half of the shares in Lanceford were then transferred to a company owned by Mr Ho's third wife and the other half to a firm owned equally by the five children he had by his second wife.

In a statement, the family members said all "material steps" for the transfer of Mr Ho's shares were "approved or authorised in writing" by Mr Ho.

They said it was "regrettable" that Mr Ho's law firm "rushed to publicise these matters without checking the underlying facts in connection with the relevant transactions".

The disputed stake in SJM is worth about US$1.7 billion (about 1bn).

Mr Ho was the son of a powerful Hong Kong family, but his father lost his wealth in the 1930s stock market crash. Mr Ho is essentially a self-made man, having formed his own business - he also co-operated with occupying Japanese forces during the Second World War.

He later branched out to run the casino monopoly in Macau, then a Portuguese colony.