GGRAsia – Nagasaki no news yet on central govt timing of IR decision

Nagasaki no news yet on central govt timing of IR decision

May 17, 2023 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

The authorities in Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture have told GGRAsia they have no information yet on the timing of the national government’s decision regarding their application to host an integrated resort (IR) with casino.

“The Japanese government is continuing the review of Kyushu-Nagasaki IR, but no schedule has been given,” said Nagasaki’s IR Promotion Division, in an emailed reply in response to GGRAsia’s enquiry.

Nagasaki submitted its IR District Development Plan to the national government in April last year, the same time as the metropolis of Osaka submitted its own plan. Osaka’s was approved last month.

A fundraising target of JPY438.3 billion (US$3.27 billion currently) has been mentioned for Nagasaki’s scheme, due to be on land at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo (pictured), with Casinos Austria International Japan Inc as a commercial partner. The Nagasaki authorities said in their latest email to GGRAsia there was no change at the moment regarding the fundraising figure for the project.

They added that the “financial arrangers” for the scheme include Credit Suisse AG, CBRE, and Cantor Fitzgerald Securities Japan Co Ltd.

“Credit Suisse, CBRE and Cantor Fitzgerald Securities Japan will [act] jointly on arranging the financing for the Kyushu-Nagasaki IR. The relevant documents have already been submitted to the [national] government with our regional development plan,” the prefecture’s IR Promotion Division noted in its reply to GGRAsia.

The intended operator of the Nagasaki IR scheme “is on track to raise the full amount of funds, and Nagasaki prefecture has already submitted the evidence to the [national] government as an attachment to our plan,” the promotion office also noted.

Nagasaki prefecture’s governor, Kengo Oishi, had mentioned in March that the local authorities would assess whether the takeover of Credit Suisse by fellow Swiss lender UBS AG would have any impact on the funding process for the Nagasaki IR.

The central authorities ruled in mid-April this year that they would accept Osaka’s IR plan for Yumeshima island in Osaka Bay, which has a JPY1.08 billion budget. The Osaka plan got just under 66 percent of the points available under a scoring process coordinated by the Japan Tourism Agency and the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.