GGRAsia – Mark Brown quits NagaCorp for ‘other opportunities’

Mark Brown quits NagaCorp for ‘other opportunities’

Oct 27, 2014 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Mark Brown has tendered his resignation as chief operating officer of NagaWorld Ltd with effect from October 26. The announcement was made over the weekend by parent NagaCorp Ltd.

“The company has accepted his resignation for the reason that Mr Brown has fulfilled satisfactorily the job assignments under his employment contract with NagaWorld and has laid the foundation of a VIP market in Macau and [mainland] China,” Cambodia-based casino operator NagaCorp said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The firm’s statement added that Mr Brown “has confirmed that he has resigned to pursue other opportunities”, but gave no further details.

Mr Brown, who headed Las Vegas Sands Corp’s operations in Macau from April 2006 to April 2009, was appointed chief operating officer of NagaWorld in December 2013. One of his tasks was overseeing the initial stages of NagaCorp’s casino project near Vladivostok, in Russia.

Prior to his move to NagaWorld, he was senior vice president for strategic development at Wynn Resorts Ltd’s Encore Las Vegas facility.

Commenting on Mr Brown’s departure, Credit Suisse AG said it “should have limited impact on the daily operations of NagaCorp”. Regarding the firm’s goal to expand its international VIP business, analysts Kenneth Fong and Isis Wong noted that NagaCorp had already set up an office in Macau earlier this year to implement the company’s junket network expansion strategy.

“We believe that the Macau junkets are now more open for overseas expansion [as] high-end players may avoid frequent appearance in Macau as a result of the anti-corruption fight; and the new transit visa rule made Macau less accessible to frequent players – NagaWorld could benefit from the spillover from Macau,” the Credit Suisse analysts added.

Following Mr Brown’s resignation, his job responsibilities will be assumed by Lien Trung Phat, managing director for business development (Macau and China) and Mike Ngai, managing director for business development (South East Asia), NagaCorp said.

Mr Lien has worked in Vietnam, South Korea, United States, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Macau and mainland China, over a career of some 25 years in the gaming industry that has included spells with Venetian Macao and Resorts World Sentosa.

Mr Ngai’s previous work experience includes stints at Venetian Macao and U.S.-based casinos.