Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd. last week announced that Chief Executive Officer Mark A. Brown plans to leave that position to become chairman of the board. In an email to Marianas Variety, which reported that Brown had stepped down, Brown wrote, “I did not resign. That’s incorrect. We are now structuring the company to be more efficient.”
He identified the new CEO as YL Kwong, who will “be in charge of day-to-day operations in Saipan.” Brown said he has been spending a lot of time “on the road, with investment groups, promoting Saipan to investors.”
IP is now building a high-roller casino resort on the island of Saipan, but has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings due to concerns about long-term funding for the project.
According to Marianas Variety, the Imperial Pacific Resort was originally scheduled to open before Chinese New Year at the end of the month. That plan has been shelved, with the company announcing a soft launch sometime in the first quarter of the year.
Though Fitch says construction of the resort is on schedule, longer-term cap-ex funding for the property is not yet available, which could put more pressure on the liquidity of IPI.
A contributing factor in the downgrade may be the levels of credit being issued to high rollers who play at the Best Sunshine Live temporary casino. So far, only one junket has been licensed by the Commonwealth Casino Commission of Saipan, so IPI is granting credit directly to VIPs, with credit “partly backed by guarantors,” reported Variety. IPI’s unaudited VIP table games rolling for 2016 at Best Sunshine was US$32.366 billion (HK$251.16 billion).
The Imperial Pacific Resort will cover 140,000 square meters (35 acres) in Garapan, Saipan and offer 200 gaming tables and 350 slot machines. A 14-story hotel building will feature more than 340 suites and 15 deluxe villas.
