Aspiring to be a “pure gaming firm” by 2020
Suncity Group Holdings Ltd. is looking for opportunities to buy casinos throughout Asia, specifically in “South Korea, the Philippines, Russia and Myanmar,” Executive Director Andrew Lo recently told GGRAsia.
The Hong Kong-listed group, which does not contain the assets of the brand’s Macau casino junket business, has already made a deal to manage a casino resort at Van Don in Vietnam.
In the same market, Suncity would like to develop and operate a Vietnam resort at Hoi An, Lo said. On May 31, Suncity announced that it had not yet completed the purchase of a 34 percent share in the project called Hoiana, but the HKD600 million (US$76.8 million) deal now has a new deadline, July 31. Lo said he’s comfortable that the company will obtain all the necessary permits and complete other paperwork before that date.
“We’ve seen a few compulsory procedures to be completed regarding Phase I of Hoiana. It is a vast piece of land of 163 hectares (403 acres), which takes time for the process of obtaining the land certificates for it. But now this process is soon to be over,” he told GGRAsia.
Hoiana is a venture of Hoi An South Development Ltd., which also involves the Vietnamese asset manager VinaCapital Group and a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd. The first of the project’s seven phases is due to open in 2019. The first stage will include three hotels, food and beverage outlets and a golf course as well as a casino.
Suncity also is interested in winning its own Macau casino license after the current six expire in 2020 and 2022. It plans to become a “pure gaming firm” by 2020, said Lo, and will “be studying how to inject the junket business into the company.”
Based on VIP rolling chip volume and GGR, its Macau junket business is the leading brand in the city.
