GGRAsia – Chow Tai Fook, Suncity to start on Vietnam casino: report

Chow Tai Fook, Suncity to start on Vietnam casino: report

Apr 13, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd and Macau junket operator Suncity Group will soon start construction on a planned casino resort in Vietnam’s Quang Nam Province, according to a media report.

Construction for the US$4 billion project will start on April 23, reported local news outlet VietnamNet Bridge.

The first phase of the project will cost US$500 million and should be completed in the first quarter of 2019, added the report.

Chow Tai Fook acquired a controlling stake in the casino resort scheme in September 2015. The seller was VinaCapital group, an investment management and real estate development firm in Vietnam; VinaCapital however remained connected to the project.

Chow Tai Fook is a privately held conglomerate controlled by the family of Hong Kong businessman Cheng Yu Tung. Mr Cheng is a longstanding business partner of Stanley Ho Hung Sun, a founder of Macau casino investor SJM Holdings Ltd.

Suncity is Macau’s largest VIP gaming consolidator. The privately held firm operates VIP rooms in several casinos in Macau, as well as VIP clubs in casinos in the Philippines, according to a corporate website.

Since the withdrawal of Malaysia’s Genting Group from the Quang Nam project in 2012, VinaCapital – as the manager – had struggled to find a new partner for the project.

This is not the first casino project that Chow Tai Fook has pursued. The firm is also involved in the development of a casino resort in Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland.

According to VietnamNet Bridge, the Quang Nam casino resort – also known as South Hoi An – would be Vietnam’s second largest, only behind Ho Tram Strip. It will include a golf course, to be ready by 2020, added the media outlet.

The report said that Quang Nam authorities last month officially granted an amended investment certificate for the project, officially recognising SunCity and Chow Tai Fook as stakeholders.