Galaxy Entertainment Chairman Francis Lui Buys HK$130m of Shares as Macau Stocks Slide

Galaxy Entertainment Group's chairman bought 4.6 million shares for cash on the first trading day after Macau's weakest monthly gaming revenue of the year, paying less than the stock traded for on the exchange that day. The filing shows the price; it does not show who sold.

• Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) chairman Francis Lui bought 4,613,000 shares off-exchange for cash on 2 October at an average HK$28.25 each, about HK$130.3 million (approximately $16.6 million), according to his disclosure filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange on 6 October
• The purchase lifts his total disclosed interest from 54.14% to 54.24% of GEG, most of it held through a discretionary family trust and companies he controls
• It is the first purchase among the changes he has reported for 2026; the earlier two were transfers out of his father's estate, of which he is an executor, to two of his sisters
• The price was below GEG's lowest trade on the exchange that day, HK$29.42, and below its lowest trade of the year
• It came on the first Hong Kong trading day after Macau's September GGR fell 1.2% to MOP18.06 billion, with GEG down 20.1% this year against falls of 41.8% at Sands China and 46.3% at SJM Holdings

The Chairman Buys for Cash, Off the Exchange, Below the Market

Francis Lui Yiu Tung, chairman of Galaxy Entertainment Group, bought 4,613,000 GEG shares on Friday 2 October, according to the Form 3A director's notice he filed on 6 October through the Hong Kong exchange's disclosure of interests system. The notice records the purchase as beneficial owner, for cash, off-exchange, at an average consideration of HK$28.25 a share, a total of about HK$130.3 million, approximately $16.6 million. The seller is not named, and the form does not require it.

His total disclosed interest rises from 54.14% to 54.24%, or 2,375,417,700 of the 4,379,240,712 shares in issue. Most of it is not held in his own name: 1,548,786,708 shares sit in a discretionary family trust and 761,571,099 in companies he controls, according to the notice.

The only other changes Lui has reported for 2026 were of a different kind: on 2 July and 7 August he transferred 4,134,318 and 4,823,370 shares as executor of the Estate of Dr. Lui Che Woo to his sisters Eileen Lui Wai Ling and Paddy Lui Wai Yu, also GEG directors, under an estate distribution, according to their notices.

The price stands out. GEG traded between HK$29.42 and HK$31.36 on 2 October and closed at HK$30.30, according to Yahoo Finance data, so Lui paid about 6.8% below the close. HK$28.25 is also below the stock's lowest trade of 2026, HK$28.68 on 26 June. The filing does not say how the price was set.

A Weak Tape After a Weak Month

The trade came on the first Hong Kong trading day after Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reported September GGR of MOP18.06 billion (approximately $2.24 billion), down 1.2% year on year and the fourth consecutive monthly fall. Hong Kong markets were shut for National Day on 1 October, and Macau gaming stocks fell broadly when trading resumed, according to Asia Gaming Brief, which first reported the filing. GEG closed 4.2% lower that day.

On Yahoo Finance closing prices, GEG ended 6 October at HK$30.52, down 20.1% from the end of 2025, against a 5.3% fall in the Hang Seng Index. Sands China is down 41.8%, SJM Holdings 46.3%, Melco International 38.5% and MGM China 28.8%; of the six Hong Kong-listed operators only Wynn Macau, down 14.9%, has fallen less.

GEG's own numbers are steadier than its shares: second-quarter adjusted EBITDA was HK$3.4 billion, down 5% year on year or up 8% after normalising for luck, with net cash of HK$35.9 billion at 30 June, according to its results release. Golden Week has brought crowds, with about 920,000 visitors in the first five days against a pre-holiday expectation of 150,000 a day, according to official data reported by Asia Gaming Brief.

A Cash Purchase Says More Than the Transfers Before It

Lui's earlier notices this year were bookkeeping inside a family succession. This one is HK$130 million of his own money, spent with the sector near its lows for the year. It changes nothing about control and adds about 0.1 percentage points to his interest, which is why it reads as a signal rather than a transaction. Other controlling shareholders have moved shares for other reasons: Las Vegas Sands has been buying Sands China steadily, and Lawrence Ho moved Melco Resorts shares into a trust. Those are corporate and succession decisions. A chairman buying with his own cash the day the market sold off after a weak month is a more direct statement of confidence.

The Discount Is the Detail Worth Watching

The signal is softened by its price. A block bought off-exchange below the day's low, from an undisclosed seller, is a negotiated trade that put no buying pressure on the order book, and the filing gives no clue who sold. What the price does is set a reference point. If the shares recover, HK$28.25 will be remembered as the level at which the chairman judged GEG cheap. If they do not, it will show how far the sector had to fall before he bought.

Galaxy's chairman has put his own money behind a stock that has fallen less than its peers, in a market that has now shrunk for four months. October's revenue, against last year's strongest month, will show whether he bought early or at the bottom.