On July 11, 2024, Alliance Global Group (AGI) Chief Executive Officer and AGI subsidiary Travelers International Hotel Group Inc (TIHGI) chairman Kevin Tan revealed to Inside Asian Gaming that avoiding potential conflicts of interest caused by former Travelers chairman David Chua as president of Manila casino developer Suntrust Resort Holdings was the reason he chose to remove Chua from the Travelers board of directors one.
The clarification comes after local media Bilyanaro reported on Thursday that Chua's removal from the Travelers board was part of Tan's "purge" of ties to Genting Follow-up reports from some executives with ties to Hong Kong. Genting Hong Kong, a former partner of Travelers, owns and operates IR Newport World Resorts in Manila.
Tan said in an exclusive interview with IAG that Chua's history with Genting Hong Kong led AGI to buy Genting's shares in Travellers last year. At the time, his exit became a natural development, noting that the company's lease agreement with Suntrust was also a key factor. Suntrust is developing a $1.1 billion hotel and casino in Travelers' Westside City precinct.
Tan said: "The fact is, I first replaced David as chairman of Travelers in 2022, when AGI bought Genting Hong Kong's shareholding in Travellers, he moved to the board level, but then when the transition of Genting Hong Kong's shareholding to AGI was completed, he was really part of the old regime, the old partners, so we really felt we had to ask him Resigned from the Board of Directors."
"It's also because we think that, given that he later became president of [Suntrust parent company] LET Group, there's a real amount of Big conflict of interest, of course LET Group has a leasing arrangement with us for the Westside project.”
"So, it was a combination of reasons that led us to let him go as a board member."
Chua, who was the chief operating officer of Genting Berhad Malaysia, was appointed executive director of Summit Ascent Holdings in March 2021 and The chief executive of Summit Ascent Holdings, a subsidiary of LET Group and a significant Suntrust shareholder, was appointed to the Suntrust board two months later.
Suntrust is expected to open its Manila hotel and casino project in early 2025.
