Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp Ltd says its shareholders have approved arrangements for financing the expansion of its casino resort in Phnom Penh. NagaCorp told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday that an extraordinary general meeting of its shareholders that day had voted in favour of its financing plan.
In April the company announced that its founder, NagaCorp chief executive Chen Lip Keong, would pay half of the US$3.5 billion price, excluding the cost of the of the land, of the Naga 3 extension of its NagaWorld Complex casino resort in the Cambodian capital.
The Naga 3 extension will have a gross floor area of 544,801 square metres (5.86 million sq feet). Naga 3 will feature both mass gaming and VIP gaming, and it will be adding a total 4,720 hotel rooms to the NagaWorld Complex.
Earlier in April NagaCorp said it expected to invest between US$3.8 billion and US$4 billion in Naga3.
NagaCorp has a 70-year licence for land-based casino gaming, valid until 2065, and a 41-year gaming monopoly, ending in 2035, for activities within a 200-kilometre (124-mile) radius of the Cambodian capital. The company is developing a second casino resort in Vladivostok, Russia.
NagaCorp’s chairman Tim McNally said in a recent interview with GGRAsia that the Hong Kong-listed casino operator was in “a position to take a look” at new development opportunities if they are sufficiently attractive.
Mr McNally said additionally that the financing arrangement for Naga 3 showed “a lot of confidence and commitment from Dr Chen” both in the company and its growth potential.
