with a MOP34.9 billion contribution from
Dear Sirs,
gaming - as if a drop of MOP10 billion is likely
when all indications, including the AMCM’s
Tangled facts
forecasts point to an increase of revenues from
We refer to Muhammad Cohen’s article ‘A tangled web’ in the
the gaming sector.
January edition of Macau Business concerning our ‘Macau Studio
These are “very conservative” figures, but
City’ joint venture. We note that it was also posted on your website on
they’re also, in my humble opinion, completely
22 January 2010.
irresponsible numbers, because they send a bad
signal to markets and investors alike. There are eSun has never sought, nor needed, US$1.5 billion in borrowings
no solid grounds to justify such pessimism.
to complete the Macau Studio City project . eSun, as one of the
At a crucial time for Macau’s development
principal stakeholders in the project, has (and has always had) more
and its affirmation as the world’s gaming capital
than sufficient financial resources to fund its equity contributions to
and even – may the Gods be generous - as an
the project. The joint venture itself was always intended to be the
Asian capital of entertainment and MICE, the
borrower, and has previously received an offer to project finance,
without the banks having any direct recourse to casino cashflows.
lack of public investment would be more than
New Cotai’s proposed casino has always been a separate project, with
enough, but the government is predicting a
Macao Studio City, as proposed landlord, being able to demonstrate
slight increase in current expenditures and a
that it could service its debt obligations out of proposed rental receipts.
decrease in public investments. Someone has a
very perverse sense of humour! Fundamentally, we take issue with your misguided assertion that
The list of reasons why the government
New Cotai’s 40 per cent. of Macao Studio City, together with its
must spend more is endless: the central
casino interest, would be worth more than the 60 per cent. of Macao
government’s approval for new land
Studio City owned by eSun’s subsidiary. Without an understanding or
reclamations; the LTR’s first phase of
analysis of what that casino interest is, this is clearly not a conclusion
construction; 19,000 new social housing units;
that can be safely drawn.
the connections to the rail network that links
We also take issue with the reliability of a number of your sourced
Guangdong to Zhuhai and that allows high-
comments. The suggestion that our group instigated litigation as a
speed traveling from Guangzhou to the North
face-saving exercise is not correct. eSun is fundamentally committed
(in the near future to facilitate further arrivals to the Macao Studio City project, fervently believes in its future and is
of tourists from the Mainland); not to mention committed to seeing the project re-started and completed. Its reasons
the new hospital in Taipa.
for litigating have been explained publicly and are motivated by
Add to this the fact that the services
fundamental business reasoning, not face. Moreover, the notion that
sector needs support, since some of its well
eSun was unwilling to partner with a gaming concessionaire for fear
intentioned projects are dying and in need of
of losing control of the project has no founding in fact.
urgent intervention, like the Macau-Zhuhai
Yours faithfully
trans-border park. There’s also a need for an
For and on behalf of
urgent investment in professional training.
eSun Holdings Limited
This is not the time to save and, let’s face it,
we don’t need to. Allan Li
Macau has nearly MOP100 billion in Senior Vice President & General Counsel
accumulated budget surpluses. They want
Lai Sun Group
to save it for a rainy day? I can understand
that, but I don’t understand why not even the
budgeted money for public investments is spent.
Is it mere conjunctivitis or true blindness?
From the editor
Either way, it’s completely unacceptable.
Our Special Correspondent Muhammad Cohen made repeated efforts
So, we hope the budget that Fernando Chui
to get eSun and its parent company Lai Sun Group to cooperate with
Sai On presents in a few days to the Legislative
his article on the Macau Studio City project. Regrettably, eSun and
Assembly, is more adequate for the real needs
Lai Sun chose to ignore those efforts and instead has chosen to
of Macau. respond after publication, avoiding scrutiny of its assertions. Despite
eSun’s denial of financing difficulties and other problems surrounding
the project, the most obvious and undeniable fact in the Macau Studio
City saga remains that, nine years after securing the coveted site, the
project remains unbuilt. As we did prior to the article’s publication, we
invite eSun and/or Lai Sun to explain that.
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