Macau junket operator Amax International Holdings has won a court case over the disputed ownership of the Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel.

On Friday, Macau Business reported that Macau’s Court of First Instance had ruled on June 15 that Amax subsidiary Empresa Hoteleria de Macau was the rightful owner of the Imperial Palace property, dealing a blow to Victory Success Holdings Ltd, an offshoot of Macau’s largest junket operator, Suncity Group Holdings Ltd.

The fight for control of the Imperial Palace, formerly known as the New Century Hotel, dates back to 2012, when a former paramour of Amax chairman Ng Man Sun claimed the property as her own after the couple split up. Ng had transferred 80% of his stake in Empresa Hoteleria to his ex before they split up but always insisted this transfer was ‘temporary.’

In 2016, Empresa Hoteleria announced that it had transferred the ownership stake to Victory Success the year before, purportedly as the settlement of a debt. This March, the Macau court ruled that Victory Success had “pretended” to hold a general assembly meeting, which in the court’s view invalidated the ownership transfer.