Harbinger Capital, the majority investor of Asian Coast Development (Canada) Ltd., has committed to invest an additional $50 million on the The Grand: Ho Tram Strip project, the luxury resort and casino complex in Vietnam.
The New York-based hedge fund’s new investment is the second pledge ACDL has received in the past two months after minority shareholder NewCity Capital made a $20 million investment back in July.
Harbinger Capital’s Senior Managing Director Philip Falcone commented on the firm’s new investment, expressing the company’s excitement over the developmental potential of the Ho Tram project. “We are encouraged by the Vietnamese government’s progress on establishing a robust regulatory framework that will also provide a road map for the establishment of local gaming in Vietnam,” Falcone said.
The resort’s first phase opened in 2013 and has so far received positive reviews from visitors of its 541-room, five-star hotel. The new round of funding from Harbinger Capital and NewCity Capital will underwrite the next phase of development, which includes another 559 hotel rooms and more entertainment and leisure options.
SAIPAN CASINO INVESTOR UPS STAKE
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based investment firm Imperial Pacific announced that it’s doubling its initial investment to build a resort and casino in Saipan. The company plans to invest as much as $7 billion on the project, cutting down on operating costs from its other businesses in order to focus on the project’s development.
This cut down could be attributed to its investment in Hengsheng Group, one of the largest junket operators in Macau, which has seen its business slow down on the heels of sluggish growth in the gambling destination brought about by a weakening economy and stricter anti-corruption policies from China.
The Saipan casino project initially had a budget of $3 billion. However, Imperial Pacific envisions a massive integrated resort that could end up being bigger than any of the resort-casinos in Macau and Singapore with as many as 4,000 hotel rooms and numerous entertainment options projected to be built in five years.
