Resort will boast names like Versace, Lagerfeld
Macau casino concessionaire SJM Holdings has rebranded its planned HKD30 billion (US$3.9 billion) casino resort on the Cotai Strip from the Lisboa Palace to the Grand Lisboa Palace. The superlative seems to fit: for starters, the lavish resort will feature a Palazzo Versace Hotel and a Karl Lagerfeld Hotel.
Speaking at a recent Chinese New Year party and on Radio Macau, SJM CEO Ambrose So Shu Fai said, “The new project is built on our branding. The Lisboa is a very strong branding, so we say this is the Grand Lisboa Palace.” SJM also owns the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Hotel Lisboa on the Macau Peninsula, both opened by SJM Holdings founder Stanley Ho Hung Sun in 1970. So also touted SJM’s “strong position … solid balance sheet and … great progress on the construction of our integrated resort.”
“We will be topping off the Grand Lisboa Palace building in a few months’ time, and are on track for completion of the project in 2017,” So added. The ceremony should occur just as the long-awaited Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge opens to traffic.
In September, brokerage CLSA Ltd. said the bridge opening cut travel time in half for Macau visitors coming from Hong Kong International Airport.
So expressed optimism for the jurisdiction this year, after a dismal 2015 in which gaming industry revenues declined by more than 34 percent.
“I think the decline has narrowed a little bit. And we think [the market] should have stabilized at this level. And we hope to grow… when the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge is completed in 2017, at the time we complete our property,” So said.
