Clairvest Group, chosen in a noncompetitive bidding process to develop an integrated resort (IR) in Wakayama, Japan, has announced its partners in the venture: French casino operator Groupe Partouche and AMSE Resorts Japan, a company linked to U.S. gaming veteran William Weidner.
A subsidiary of the Canadian private-equity firm, Clairvest Neem Ventures, plans an “initial investment” of JPY470 billion (US$4.3 billion), according to the prefecture’s website. In a June 7 statement, Clairvest said its consortium has the “expertise of two of the most experienced teams” in gaming and resort operations.
AMSE is linked to Weidner, former president and COO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., via its backing by Global Gaming Asset Management (GGAM), of which Weidner is CEO.
In 2009, Weidner left Sands under a cloud following a break with the company’s late founder, billionaire Sheldon Adelson. According to a 2013 report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Weidner called the dispute “a junkyard-dog fight” that cost him millions in compensation when Adelson fired him and denied him severance. The former Sands executive then founded GGAM with a team that also includes Brad Stone, formerly head of international operations and constructions for the Sands Corp., and Garry Saunders, who once served as COO of Melco Resorts & Entertainment. GGAM’s client roster includes Enrique Razon’s Solaire Resort and Casino in the Philippines and Baha Mar Resort Casino in the Bahamas. GGAM is currently in litigation with Solaire about its dismissal and has won judgements from various courts, but still is fighting Razon for payment.
Mario Ho, youngest son of late Macau gaming kingpin Stanley Ho, is also involved in the project. Ho is chief marketing officer of iDreamSky Technology, which develops eSports events and video games. In a news release issued by Clairvest, he said the group’s intends to “make Wakayama Prefecture the center of Japan’s esports world.”
Groupe Partouche operates 42 casinos, most of them in France. According to GGRAsia, the company has been dogged in its pursuit of a role in Japan; it was originally involved in an IR bid in Nagasaki, first with Hong Kong-listed firm Oshidori International Holdings and then with Tokyo-listed Pixel Companyz Inc.
Wakayama’s approval of Clairvest Neem Ventures makes it the first private-sector IR partner to be confirmed by a Japanese local government. Not that it had much choice—after the May withdrawal of Suncity Group from the race, Clairvest represented the region’s only hope to win a license in the first phase of casino development in Japan.
The Clairvest consortium plans a resort complex on Marina City Island with 2,700 hotel rooms, a casino, a 6,000-capacity “international conference” center, an exhibition space and tourist attractions including an esports venue. If approved at the federal level, it hopes to launch in the “autumn of 2027.”
Jeff Parr, vice chairman and managing director of the Canadian parent company, said the partners “shared a common vision” that will help Wakayama “strengthen the economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Meanwhile…
Japanese lawmakers first approved IRs in 2016, with three IRs planned in Phase 1, and possibly more later. But MGM President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle, whose company is bidding on an IR in Osaka, recently told the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference that only two resorts may be approved. According to Asia Gaming Brief, Hornbuckle may have been suggesting that the regional bids of Nagasaki and Wakayama “might not be able to clear the high hurdles established by the requirements of the national government in terms of non-gaming facilities and other matters.”
Hornbuckle said MGM remains “extremely excited by the market” though the process has been “painful” and is taking “way too long.”
In Yokohama, meanwhile, two operators, Genting Singapore and Melco, have qualified in its Request for Proposal (RFP). Genting Singapore has teamed up with Japan pachinko giant Sega Sammy Holdings and Kajima Corp. Melco has partnered with local construction and civil engineering firm, Taisei Corp. Bernstein analyst Vitaly Umansky believes Genting Singapore has a “very strong chance” of winning in Yokohama, given its Singapore background and its Japanese partner.
In a statement, Sega Sammy said Genting Singapore “is the best partner for the success of the domestic IR business,” having successfully developed and operated Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, “one of the regions that operates and develops integrated resort under the strictest discipline in the world.”
