Swedish filings link Chen Zhi to control of Cuba’s top cigar distributor with ties to Alvin Chau

[El Presidente]

The "Dimsum Daily" wins the ward for best newspaper name in the world 

https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/swedish-filings-link-chen-zhi-to-control-of-cubas-top-cigar-distributor-with-ties-to-alvin-chau/

Swedish filings link Chen Zhi to control of Cuba’s top cigar distributor with ties to Alvin Chau

 

22nd October 2025 – (Hong Kong) U.S. and U.K. sanctions on Cambodia’s Prince Group and its chairman Vincent Chen Zhi have cast fresh light on the financier’s global footprint. Beyond high‑end property purchases and stakes in Hong Kong‑listed firms, Chen is now linked to the control of Habanos, Cuba’s largest cigar distributor, via a Hong Kong vehicle — a deal that has reportedly yielded around HK$2 billion in dividends over five years.

For years, the ultimate controller of the Habanos stake remained unclear. That changed in September when documents filed with police in Gothenburg, Sweden, alongside Anglo‑American sanctions lists, pointed to Chen. Corporate record searches in Hong Kong and overseas indicate that former Macao junket operator Alvin Chau Cheok‑wa, known as the owner of Suncity appeared in transactions connected to the acquisition.

 

Habanos, which holds Cuba’s exclusive rights to export its state‑produced cigars, was partly privatised in 2000 when half of the company was sold to a Spanish entity. Those shares were acquired in 2008 by Imperial Tobacco in the UK. In 2020, Imperial offloaded its premium cigar portfolio: a 50% holding in Habanos was sold for €1.04 billion to Hong Kong‑registered Allied Cigar Corporation Limited, then roughly HK$9 billion.

Companies Registry filings in Hong Kong list Allied Cigar’s directors at the time as Chiu King‑yan, Chiu Ping‑shun and Joyce Lam Wing‑yan. Chiu King‑yan was chief financial officer of Suncity Group, led by Alvin Chau. Bloomberg reported queries to Suncity and Chiu about the deal went unanswered.

Allied Cigar was incorporated on 10th March 2020 with a registered address at a corporate secretarial firm in Prince Edward. Within months of buying into Habanos, its board and ownership shifted repeatedly: on 15th April, the shares moved to Cayman‑based Allied Cigar Fund L.P.; on 8th May, the company was renamed Instant Alliance Limited; on 5th November, ownership transferred to an individual, Cheung Shun‑ping. The company was wound up on 18th June 2021.

Questions long lingered over the post‑2020 ownership chain — who ultimately held the Habanos stake, and who Cheung Shun‑ping was. Media in several jurisdictions, including a 2022 Radio Free Asia report citing unnamed sources, suggested Chen and Chau had jointly held interests. After Chau’s arrest by Macao’s Judiciary Police on 27th November 2021 over cross‑border gambling offences linked to Suncity, reports claimed Chen later consolidated the cigar holdings.

 

The Swedish breakthrough came as Habanos’ Nordic distributor underwent changes. Police in Gothenburg required a disclosure of the ownership structure when Habanos Nordic AB was renamed Elite Trading Scandinavia AB and management was replaced. A Swedish cigar‑community outlet, Cigarrvärlden, published the filing, which shows Chen exercising control through a multilayered network that includes Hong Kong‑registered Asia Uni Corporation Limited.

Hong Kong filings for Asia Uni Corporation date to April 2020. Its sole shareholder is Supreme Treasure International Limited, a British Virgin Islands company matching entities in the Swedish paperwork. A Spanish company named Allied Cigar Corporation S.L.U. also appears — sharing its name with the Hong Kong buyer from 2020. Asia Uni originally used a co‑working address on the 29th floor of Infinitus Plaza in Sheung Wan before changing its registered office in July to the 42nd floor of China Resources Building in Wan Chai.

Directors recorded for Asia Uni included Chiu Ping‑shun, Sheng Haoran, Tsao Jin Wei Christopher, Zhang Xiaoyi and Lei Kam Fat. In August 2025, Chiu and Lei resigned. Two new directors were added with Abu Dhabi addresses: Ravinder Singh Thakran, holding an Indian passport, and Fouad Fahmi Darwish, an Emirati passport holder. This reshuffle coincided with Swedish scrutiny of Habanos and Allied Cigar. Chiu had previously served as both director and shareholder of Hong Kong’s Allied Cigar. Separately, Sheng Haoran is the sole director of Cheer Capital Limited, the Hong Kong company holding 68 Kimberley Road, a building indirectly owned via offshore vehicles linked to Chen and subject to US sanctions.

A visit to Asia Uni’s new Wan Chai registered address found no staff or office equipment on site and signage from the previous tenant, China Dili Group, still in place. Building management confirmed Asia Uni as the current tenant; neighbours said the unit was occupied around August but appeared largely unused except for occasional fit‑out work.

Habanos’ performance has been robust. Company disclosures indicate global cigar sales reached US$827 million in 2024, up 16% year on year, with mainland China the biggest market. Spain’s Cinco Días reported that Tabacalera — the Spanish company holding the 50% Habanos stake and now indirectly controlled by Chen — has paid €221 million in dividends since its 2020 sale to the Hong Kong buyer, with profits hitting new highs annually.

Chen’s ties to Cuba also extend into the political sphere. In September 2022, he joined then‑Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen’s delegation to Havana as an adviser, meeting Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power.

Alvin Chau’s legal saga has advanced in parallel. Following his 2021 arrest, mainland authorities detained others implicated in Suncity’s online gambling operations. In July 2024, Macao’s Court of Final Appeal upheld his convictions for illegal gambling and money laundering, imposing an 18‑year prison term.

 

[chasy]

Seems legit.