Melco Crown Entertainment is appealing to eight separate banks to help finance their next raft of investment in Macau. The Packer-Ho venture is looking for $1.4billion to fund the next phase of their Studio City project according to a source familiar with the matter quoted by Macau Daily Times. ANZ, Bank of America, Bank of China, Credit Agricole, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of Cgina and Royal Bank of Scotland are all part of the lending group and it could lead some to suggest this is a truly international project. The financing was first mooted back in January and is part of a wider investment plan.
Macauslot’s concession has ended just days before one of its most lucrative three week periods. Business Daily report that enclave’s only licensed football betting operator has seen its licence run down just days before Euro 2012 starts and apparently an extension hasn’t yet been sought by the company. The report states that a licence is likely to be awarded in due course as there is a “precedent for a gap” between the expiring of one licence and awarding of a new one.
Macau’s government has decided to seize the land owned by Chinese Estates Holdings. Radio Macau quoted sources as stating the government has taken the land after it was said to be involved in the corruption case involving the majority owner of Chinese Estates. Thoughts now turn to the people that already bought apartments in the La Scala project with the firm already having collected some HK$384 million in deposits. Midland Realty (Macau) Ltd chief executive Ronald Cheung told Macau Business: “Practice tells me it’s not normal for the Financial [Services] Bureau to give back the money.”
