The Landmark Macau, a casino-hotel on the Macau peninsula close to Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, is no more. Not in name, at least. It is now officially known as the New Orient Landmark Hotel. The change in name comes after the casino-hotel was sold this past April by Macau Legend Development to an indirect subsidiary of Macau Legend, New Macau Landmark Management Ltd.
Media outlet GGRAsia reported on the name change, adding that it conducted a site inspection on Wednesday. That inspection didn’t reveal any changes in the venue’s Pharaoh’s Palace Casino, which will still be managed by Macau Legend under the license of SJM Holdings Ltd.
GGRAsia added that it had attempted to talk to Chong Sio Kin, a Macau property investor who is now the majority owner of the property, but was unsuccessful. Chong is also the chairman of New Orient Group, a Macau property development firm and president of the board of the Macau General Association of Real Estate. His purchase reportedly gave him 58% of the shares of Macau Legend.
The transfer of the hotel came after its CEO, David Chow Kam Fai, and a wholly-owned Macau Legend group sold 100% of their equity to New Macau Landmark. The deal was initially expected to be completed during the first quarter of the year, but was delayed as Macau Legend needed more time to fulfill certain unspecified conditions of the sale.
Macau Legend said at the time, “The disposal is expected to accrue a gain before tax of approximately HKD3.3 billion [US$420.5 million], which is calculated based on the purchase price, net liabilities value and carrying amount of the sale loan of New Macau Landmark Management as at December 31, 2017.”
The sale, which ultimately completed for $586.1 million, provided a nice boost to Macau Legend’s finances. In reporting its revenue for the first half of 2018, the company said it had earned a profit of $363.39 million.
The money was to be used, in part, to fund expand projects, including several in Cambodia. It would also go for expansion of the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf property, where Macau Legend currently has two hotels with a third currently under construction.
