Ho mum on gaming sub-concession
The developer of the stalled 13 Hotel project in Macau has found subscribers for 90.26 percent of the shares in a recent rights issue, according to a March 19 filing to Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The company, 13 Holdings Ltd., said it received a total of 89 valid applications and acceptances in respect of a total of around 831 million right issue shares, reported GGRAsia.
Last October, the group announced the rights issue to raise approximately HKD1.01 billion (US$129 million) in capital to complete and open the property, which has been promoted as an uber-luxury hotel targeted at big-spending high rollers. In February, 13 Holdings said a casino at the hotel might open by March 31, 2019 along with some retail shops at the complex.
Melco Resorts & Entertainment Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho was asked if his company has an agreement with the promoters of the 13 Hotel to let it operate a casino under Melco’s license. Ho said that “it doesn’t really matter” at this point because the 13 has not received government approval to operate a casino.
Originally the hotel was to have opened in 2016 with features that include $1,500-a-night French Baroque suites and marble Roman baths for eight, along with 30 custom red Rolls Royce Phantoms for the transportation of guests.
The hotel “was positioned in the ultra-stratospheric segment,” said Ben Lee, managing partner at Asian gaming consultant IGamiX in comments made last summer. “That market segment has long disappeared in the aftermath of the anti-ostentation campaign, and it’s a wonder they never revised their business plan and structure when they still had the opportunity to do so.”
Operated as a standalone hotel, 13 might find it “difficult to justify room rates to match its high-end focus,” said Margaret Huang, a Bloomberg Intelligence gaming and hotels analyst. “Without a casino, it would be nearly impossible to have gamblers book rooms separately.”
