Cut stake in Melco Crown
When it comes to Macau, James Packer, executive chairman of Australian casino giant Crown Resorts Ltd., may take his ball and going home. So says gaming consultant Howard J. Klein, who floated the theory in an interview with the Weekend Australian.
Klein said Packer, who has already cut his stake in Melco Crown Entertainment from 34 percent to 27.4 percent—wants out of Macau altogether and prefers to invest in “less volatile” deals in his Australian homeland.
In Klein’s view, Packer has “elected to take a step back now as something of a hedge bet,” and take the “chips off the table until the cards turn favorable.” He added that Packer thinks the “gold rush days of Macau are over” as the world’s No. 1 gaming destination struggles through its third year of recession.
Gaming revenue in Macau for July dropped 4.5 percent year-on-year to MOP17.8 billion, marking the 26th straight month of declines in gross revenues for the SAR, according to the latest data from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the Macau Business Daily reported.
Analyst David Green of Macau consulting firm Newpage disagrees with Klein’s assessment. He told Packer’s decision to cut his stake was a way to “throw up some capital” for projects elsewhere, both at home in Australia and in Las Vegas.
