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HONG KONG: SJM Holdings Ltd, Asia’s biggest casino operator, plans to invest in land that will triple the size of its planned casino resort in Macau’s Cotai area.
SJM, founded by gambling mogul Stanley Ho, will buy a stake in a neighbouring plot controlled by the mother of Ho’s youngest children, CEO Ambrose So said, without giving a price. SJM plans to finalise terms of the purchase by the end of this year, So said.
SJM is expanding in the increasingly popular Cotai area to catch up with rivals including Sands China Ltd and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd in the world’s largest gambling hub. SJM, which runs 20 of Macau’s 35 casinos, has none in Cotai and is the last of the Chinese city’s six casino operators to receive government approval to develop the resort in the area.
“By combining the two pieces of land, we’ll have a bigger site to develop a full-fledged resort,” So said in a Sept 5 interview in Macau. The expansion will “give us a leg up on competition with other casino operators”.
SJM will use the parcel to expand the non-gambling portion of its first Cotai gambling resort, initially planned on a 70,500 sq m site.
The 180,000 sq m expansion site is owned by a company controlled by Angela Leong, SJM executive director and a Macau legislator. The plot has been approved for non-gaming entertainment uses.
Ho held a Macau gambling monopoly for four decades until 2002.
Ho was initially reluctant to copy the Las Vegas-style glitz of his US competitors, which added hotels with spas, penthouses and family-style entertainment.
Family-friendly attractions have boosted the appeal of Sands China, controlled by US billionaire Sheldon Adelson and which overtook SJM’s top spot in Macau’s mass-market casino business in the first quarter. — Bloomberg
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 10, 2013.
