Hong Kong shareholder buys remaining Golden Village Singapore stake after blocking mm2's bid

HONG Kong's Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings) is buying up the remaining 50 per cent of Singapore's Golden Village cinema businesss that it does not own after blocking an earlier bid by Singapore-listed mm2 Asia.

Orange Sky is paying its joint venture partner, ASX-listed Village Roadshow, cash that will net the seller A$165 million (S$175.8 million), Village Roadshow announced on Monday.

Village Roadshow had earlier attempted to sell its stake in the Golden Village business in June to mm2 Asia for S$184.3 million. But that deal fell through in July when Village Roadshow failed to obtain Orange Sky's support for the sale to mm2 Asia. The mm2 Asia deal was officially called off in August.

Village Roadshow said that the proceeds will be used to reduce debt. Completion is expected by year-end.