Casino services firm Macau Legend Development Ltd has finally sold its stake in the Landmark Macau hotel casino, bringing an end to a process that has been going on for a couple years.
Last week, David Chow’s Macau Legend informed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had sold its entire stake in its subsidiary New Macau Landmark Management Ltd to a group of investors for HKD 4.6b (US $590m).
The buyers are a consortium of four real estate entities, in which Dong Lap Hong Investment Company controls a 58% stake. Dong Lap Hong is owned by Chong Sio Kin, president of the board of the Macau General Association of Real Estate.
Another Chow subsidiary, Hong Hock Development Company, currently runs the Landmark Macau’s gaming operations. The Pharaoh’s Palace Casino features 17 VIP gaming tables, 60 mass market tables and 141 electronic gaming machines.
The casino’s gaming positions are provided by Macau casino concessionaire SJM Holdings, which pays Hong Hock 15% of gross gaming revenue generated at the property. The Landmark Macau’s new owners will also pay Hong Hock a monthly management fee of 0.5% of gaming revenue.
SJM will need to approve the sale of the hotel, as will Macau’s government. The casino will reportedly terminate its existing deals with junket operators, with the exception of a VIP room run by a junket operation known as Neptune Palace.
The Macau Daily Times quoted IGamiX Management & Consulting’s Ben Lee saying the sale was unusual because “the buyers don’t appear to have any background in the casino or junket industry.” However, GGRAsia reported that Chong Sio Kin is an investor in the Neptune Palace junket operation at Pharoah’s Palace.
The Pharaoh’s Palace casino reported its gaming revenue falling more than one-fifth in the first half of 2017, but Chong told GGRAsia that the new owners’ “aim is to enhance the gaming business” at the property, although the four entities have “yet to form a concrete plan as to the positioning and improving the gaming services.”
