ASIA & OCEANIA
Stanley Ho to Step Down as SJM Chairman Dr Stanley Ho, the ‘founding father’ of Macau’s casino industry, which has for
some time been the largest in the world in terms of revenue, will step down from his role as Chairman and Executive Director of SJM Holdings in June
Last June, Ho stepped down as chairman of Hong Kong conglomerate Shun Tak Holdings, with his daughter Pansy Ho taking over the position.
CHINA OPERATOR NEWS
CHINA – Analytical group Union Gaming believes that Macau operator Galaxy Macau is best placed to benefit from a surplus of gaming tables following the opening of Grand Lisboa Palace next year which completes the current wave of Cotai-based openings. In a report entitled ‘Macau pipeline in pictures,’ Union Gaming predicts that Macau’s gaming regulator will have a spare 482 gaming tables unallocated. It introduced the gaming table cap in 2012 with a three percent annual growth rate fixed until 2022.
With there being 5,500 tables in the market at the time of the cap, the growth rate would allow for 1,892 new tables to be issued through 2022. Once SJM opens Grand Lisboa Palace with 125 tables in February. Union Gaming believes that MGM and SJM will be awarded another 75 tables combined as part of a ‘catch-up’ provision by 2020 meaning the government will still have 482 tables yet to allocate.
Union Gaming’s Grant Govertson said: “Under the assumption that SJM also gets an initial batch of 100 tables for Grand Lisboa Palace in 2019, and that the government allocates ‘catch-up’ tables to MGM and SJM after the license situation is finalised, this would leave 482 tables in the inventory.”
Union believes that Galaxy, which is due to open Phase 3 and Phase 4 of Galaxy Macau from late 2019 is best placed to get the tables. An extra 4,500 hotel rooms will be added along with a bigger gaming floor. “In a nutshell, Galaxy is under- supplied in terms of room count and the addition of more room product will be a material driver of earnings for the company over the medium and longer terms,” Mr. Govertsen said. “The fact that Galaxy has so much developable land is one of the reasons we remain bullish on shares.”
AUSTRALIA – Malaysian-born casino group Genting is considering entering the Australian casino sector by purchasing the Darwin casino that has been put up for sale by its New Zealand-based owner SkyCity Entertainment.
With huge projects to fund in Adelaide and Auckland, SkyCity has entrusted Goldman Sachs to sell the property with Genting one of a number of operators the firm has contacted. The Darwin casino was bought by Sky City in 2004 for $195m. It has 600 EGMs, 40 tables, 152 hotel rooms and 800 employees, and operates with a ‘long-term casino exclusivity and tax rate certainty.’
The casino is expected to fetch between AU$200m and AU$250m and comes with exclusive rights to operate a casino in Darwin until 2036. It accounted for 12 per cent of SkyCity’s GGR in 2017.
P30 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /MARKET DATA
SJM, who once held the monopolistic rights to operate casinos in Macau has seen its market share slip to 16.1 per cent in 2017 following the opening of the market to competitors in 2004.
SJM stated: “Te board of directors of SJM Holdings Limited announces that Dr. Ho Hung Sun, Stanley will, with effect from the conclusion of the annual general meeting of the company to be held on 12 June 2018, retire from his positions as Chairman and Executive Director and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of the company.
In recognition of Dr. Ho’s invaluable contributions to the Group during his tenure of services, the Board will appoint Dr. Ho as “Chairman Emeritus” of the company following his retirement at the 2018 AGM.”
Dr. Ho confirmed he has no disagreement with the board and that he is not aware of any matters relating to his retirement that need to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of
ACT government gives Aquis deadline for Canberra proposal
Australia
Te Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has given Aquis Entertainment Group four weeks to submit its final blueprint for the AU$330m redevelopment of Canberra Casino.
Aquis’ initial 2015 proposal which included provisions for 500 slot machines was turned down with the ACT government saying it would agree to 200 slot machines and 60 electronic table games. Tis decision was made back in May 2016 with Aquis not making any official plans to take the government up on its proposal.
Te government wants Aquis to buy 300 slot machine licenses from local clubs, forfeiting 100 of them, and then installing 200 machines.
the company. SJM added: “Dr. Ho has justifiably been acknowledged as the founding father of Macau’s gaming industry, which has for some time been the largest in the world in terms of revenue. Under Dr. Ho’s visionary leadership, the company and its subsidiaries achieved a significant growth in the past decade.
“Te Board expresses its sincere gratitude to Dr. Ho for his invaluable contributions in building a solid foundation for the company’s continuing growth in the future.”
Te board will appoint Ms. Ho Chiu Fung, Daisy to succeed as Chairman and Executive Director of the company, Mr. Fok Tsun Ting, Timothy and Deputada Leong On Kei, Angela as Co- Chairmen and Executive Directors of the company; and Dr. So Shu Fai as Vice-Chairman, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company.
SJM is one of Macau’s six licensed operators, which include Sands China and Wynn Macau.
A spokesperson for Aquis said: “Given the size of the proposed investment, the government must be realistic in its expectations in relation to the detail and speed at which information can be provided in the face of significant commercial uncertainty.
“Te legislative changes, passed in late 2017, require a thorough process to be undertaken to determine the impact of such significant regulatory and land use restrictions as those imposed. We have advised the government that this process is ongoing and as part of that their input will be required to clarify a number of outstanding issues.”
Canberra Casino, which Aquis Entertainment Group bought for AU$6m in 2014, made losses of AU$13.8m in 2017. Tis was the second year the venue has posted a loss although this year’s loss has almost doubled from the $7.7m loss reported in 2016.
Cambodia
Donaco International has said that its Star Vegas business in Cambodia continues to rebuild, recovering from the ‘damaging effect of the Tai vendor’s breaches of contract and the resulting illegal competition in the Poipet area.’ Management has been successful in signing up a number of new VIP junkets to replace those that left the property last year. Across the March 2018 quarter, average daily visitation increased by 30 per cent to 4,462 casino visitors per day, compared to 3,426 visitors per day last year. February month saw average daily visitation at 4,630 per day, an increase of 38 per cent compared to 3,356 per day last year.
Total rolling chip turnover for the March quarter was THB18.52bn, still 25 per cent below last year’s total of THB24.78bn. However this was a substantial improvement on the 64 per cent decline seen in the December 2017 half year.
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