Ho IPO

The daughter of Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho plans to raise $1.5 million in her joint venture with MGM Resorts International through a public offering of the venture’s shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

MGM China Holdings Ltd. will offer 760 million shares. By doing so MGM China will become owner of the MGM Grand Paradise S.A., the Macau company that owns the MGM Grand Macau resort and casino, which opened in December 2007.

MGM Resorts reached a deal in April with Pansy Ho that will give it a 51 percent ownership in MGM China.

Ho herself will have a 29 percent stake.

Previously, Ho and MGM Resorts had a 50-50 deal. Pansy is Stanley Ho’s daughter by his second wife.

The elder Ho has controlled gambling in the former Portuguese colony since the early 1960s and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement claims he runs a complex, organized crime operation.

The division also says that Pansy Ho is an “unsuitable” business partner for MGM in Macau. Ho’s company denies it has any connections with organized crime and MGM says that their record of doing business with Pansy Ho has been “spotless.”