The commission overseeing Macau’s public tender to award new 10-year casino rights is to host a press conference on Saturday (November 26) at 11am local time. The topic of the press conference – the scheduling of which was announced on Friday afternoon – has not been publicly disclosed.
Macau’s six incumbent casino concessionaires and a newcomer, GMM Ltd – the latter a unit of Genting Malaysia Bhd – are currently each in the process of bidding for one of up to six new concessions. The government has said it hopes the new concessions can begin in January.
According to a report by the Portuguese-language radio service of public broadcaster TDM, Radio Macau, a list of “provisional winners” regarding Macau’s ongoing gaming concession tender process is expected to be announced in early December, as the negotiation stage between accepted bidders and the Macau government concluded on Tuesday.
After completing the consultation and negotiation phase, the Macau government committee overseeing the tender process must prepare a detailed report, indicating which six proposals present the “most advantageous conditions” for Macau, reported on Wednesday the media outlet.
Within 15 days, the companies taking part in the tender process “should be notified of the decision,” said Radio Macau, adding that the city’s Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng, “should soon afterwards publish an executive order awarding the provisional licences”.
Following the opening of the proposals in mid-September and a few rounds of negotiation, Macau tender bidders were told to up their spending proposals, specifically related to non-gaming investment.
Credit Suisse AG had said in an October note that a new generation of Macau casino concessionaires might each have to spend between HKD10 billion (US$1.27 billion) and HKD20 billion across 10 years, on non-gaming activities pledged in return for gaming rights issued by the local government.
