Negotiations continue with would-be operator Crown
A US$3 billion casino resort planned for the Gold Coast of Australia may be owned in part by the Chinese government.
ASF Group Director Louis Chien told a local broadcaster that a Beijing government stake “is not out of the realm of possibility” considering the involvement in the project of Chinese state-owned consortium member China State Construction Engineering Corp. and its subsidiaries.
Chien added that there is no law barring a foreign government from owning a piece of an Australian casino, and said the issue is something the Queensland government and ASF will “work through.”
According to a report on ABC.net, the Queensland government seems prepared to give a prime piece of Gold Coast real estate for the planned integrated resort. The proposal is currently in the public comment phase to gauge community reaction to the Broadwater Marine Project, which would include hotels, entertainment venues, theaters, residential apartments and a casino.
Although ASF provided a concept plan for the late last year, it did not identify the casino operator or include key details such as the number of gaming machines. Funding and investor details were also missing from the plan.
Opponents including Doug Flockhart of Clubs Queensland said the review process thus far has lacked “real rigor.” And Judy Spence, vice president of the group Save Our Broadwater and a former Labor minister, said she’s troubled by the fact that the consortium “only has $6 million dollars in net assets.”
Chien countered that the company has no need for a large balance sheet. “We call on funding when we need it from outside the company,” he said.
However, although ASF claims to have wealthy shareholders in China, ABC reported that “the company is a minnow. Its half-yearly report records revenue of AU430,000 (US$330,000).”
“It is unusual for such a skinny, undercapitalized company to come forward for an investment like this,” Ben Lee, managing partner at IGamiX Management & Consulting, told the Financial Times. “The ASF Group must have put forward the idea to authorities that they are backed by the Chinese government.”
The Times said Chien was “evasive when pressed for answers, responding that “projects of this size and scale are very complex and therefore they have very complex commercial structures.” ASF Group claims on its website that it is a “new driving force in strategic investment between China and Australia.”
“We facilitate two-way cross-border investment between Australia and China. So in essence, we are an investment incubator,” Chien said on the TV program 7.30. “We’re a tourist city: tourist-built, tourist-driven. This is the next tourist infrastructure for the city. Why don’t we just get on with it?”
As for an operator, the report said ASF has been negotiating with Crown Resorts for more than a year, but has yet to reach an agreement.
The Chinese government itself says its direct investment in Australia grew by more than 50 percent year-on-year in 2016 to AU4.8 billion.
