Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), says her office has not received any application for a new licence for the shuttered Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel (pictured). Her comments were made following a report that interests associated with Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, boss of Macau junket investor Suncity Group, had taken over control of the property and were planning to revamp it.
“We only got the information [regarding the Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel] through media reports,” said Ms Senna Fernandes as quoted by the Portuguese-language service of local public channel TDM.
“Until now we haven’t received any new information and we haven’t received any application to licence a hotel or any other establishment inside that venue,” she added.
Beijing Imperial Palace, formerly known as the New Century Hotel, used to be run by Hong Kong-listed Amax International Holdings Ltd. The company said in a Wednesday filing that the report that the hotel had been taken over by interests linked to Suncity was “untrue”.
The report, carried by Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao Daily, quoted Andrew Lo Kai Bong, Suncity’s chief investment officer, as the source of the information.
In the report, Mr Lo was quoted as saying that the group had applied for a licence with the Macau government to operate Beijing Imperial Palace, with the firm’s project including the revamp of the property and a reduction in the number of rooms.
Beijing Imperial Palace has been shuttered for more than a year, after surrendering its operating licence to the Macau government. The gaming facility inside it – Casino Greek Mythology – has been closed for more than two years.
