The CEO of Australian casino operator Echo Entertainment wants to know what’s the freaking holdup in regulators approving Genting Hong Kong’s bid to boost its Echo stake.
It’s been nearly two years since Genting Bhd boss Lim Kok Thay confirmed that his firm’s Hong Kong offshoot had applied for the right to boost its Echo stake from its current 6.6% to as much as 25%. By comparison, when Echo rival Crown Resorts applied for a similar right back in 2012, its request was approved in less than 15 months, only to see Crown dump its entire Echo holdings shortly thereafter.
Last week, an Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) spokesman told Australian media that the delay was down to Genting “making significant new investments in jurisdictions where the Authority has had little prior contact and the regulatory regimen is relatively weak.” The spokesman said these investments had required “new lines of investigation” but promised that the ILGA was working as hard as it could to wrap things up.
This ‘hurry up and wait’ approach isn’t sitting well with Echo CEO Matt Bekier (not pictured), who said he’d “lost all credibility with trying to predict when a decision is coming.” That said, Bekier said he continued to watch the deliberations unfold “with great interest.”
Echo would undoubtedly welcome a timely and significant cash infusion as it prepares to do battle with Crown in Sydney. Echo’s flagship The Star casino sees its Sydney monopoly expire in 2019, after which the VIP-focused Crown Sydney will begin luring away Asian high-rollers who deign to make the trip down under. But the Genting group has casino interests around the globe and an extensive database of VIPs it can steer The Star’s way.
