Macau Rejects SJM Request For Cotai Sites 7,8; Likely To Get Other Land 1st Quarter - Source
December 17 2010 - 3:19AM
Dow Jones News
The Macau government has rejected SJM Holdings Ltd.'s (0880.HK)
application for the same land Sands China Ltd. (1928.HK) was denied
earlier this month, saying that the operator's plans to build a
casino on Sites 7 and 8 would require a public tender, a person
familiar with the matter said Friday.
SJM, which is controlled by gambling mogul Stanley Ho, is likely
to secure land rights for another plot of land on Cotai in the
first quarter of 2011, the person said.
The site is next to the Macau Dome and is also next to land
where a company controlled by Angela Leong, the fourth wife of Ho
and an executive director of SJM, said it will invest MOP10.4
billion (US$1.3 billion) in a family-oriented theme park and hotel
resort that doesn't have a casino. SJM is in talks with Leong to
connect the properties and share operating facilities, the person
said.
The first-quarter timeline represents a delay from SJM Chief
Executive Ambrose So's earlier forecast. He told Dow Jones
Newswires in September that land rights for planned casino projects
in Cotai would likely be granted to SJM, Wynn Macau Ltd. (1128.HK)
and MGM Macau by the end of 2010.
-By Kate O'Keeffe, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002;
kathryn.okeeffe@dowjones.com