Emperor Entertainment will issue 31.95 million new shares at HK$2.88 each to Honour State International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM).

The company - formerly Emperor (China Concept) Investments - said it plans to use the HK$92 million net proceeds for general working capital.

``The company is looking for investment in hotel-casino projects in Russia and is still conducting its feasibility study on the investment potential,'' it said in a statement.

Ho's SJM, which runs 14 hotels in Macau, has already teamed up with Emperor Entertainment to build a HK$350 million, five-star hotel-casino in Praia Grande Bay. Ho said he would not inject his casino assets into other listed companies in Hong Kong unless it was beneficial to Macau.

``I will only consider five-star hotel projects or above. Anything below that grade is unacceptable from my point of view,'' said Ho, whose family controls Hong Kong-listed Melco Development International and Shun Tak Holdings.

Unlike Yeung, who is eyeing the Russian market, Ho said he has little interest in expanding his casino empire outside Macau.

Shares of Emperor Entertainment, suspended since Wednesday, will resume trading today. The stock, last traded at HK$3.275, rocketed up by 57.45 percent in the first two trading days this week. In the past two months, it has gained 1,300 percent.

Ho sought to pour some cold water on the red-hot ``Macau concept'' stocks, which include Melco.

``Macau-concept stocks won't be this hot forever. I think they've almost reached saturation point,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Emperor Entertainment denied media reports that Ho planned to take a 20 percent stake in the company. It said confusion probably arose from its November 3 agreement to acquire a Macau building for HK$645 million from an independent company in which Ho owns a 20 percent stake.

Separately, Emperor International Holdings (EIH), another listed developer headed by Yeung, said it will raise HK$228 million through a top-up share placement.

Its substantial shareholder, Charron Holdings, will place 129.49 million shares with independent investors at HK$1.80 each, while Charron will subscribe for the same number of shares from EIH at the same price.

The shares represent 13.04 percent of EIH's enlarged share capital.

EIH, which said it will use proceeds as general working capital for future expansion, is to resume trading today. foster.wong@globalchina.com