Macau’s largest resort and casino group, Suncity Group Holdings, aspires to become the leader of the global casino industry, with Vietnam becoming a major target of its expansion.
Initial preparations
The group is reportedly owned by famous billionaire Cheng Yu-Tung, 88, Hong Kong's 4th-richest person with wealth of USD 16.2 billion, ranked 54th worldwide by Forbes.
Suncity currently owns around 17 VIP clubs and 280 casino gaming tables serving the largest betting and casino market, and VIP clubs in South Korea, China, and the Philippines.
Reply Bloomberg, Andrew Lo, Managing Director of Suncity Group, said: “As a ‘junket’ operator—intermediaries who lend ‘hot’ money, arrange places for players and are paid 40% of casino proceeds—we do not have enough room to grow even in Macau. In the future, if we own integrated resorts with golf courses, swimming pools and restaurants, our customers will be even more attached to us.”
In 3/2015, Suncity Group began expressing interest in investing in a casino project in Dương Tơ, Phú Quốc. However, when working with local authorities, it found that the land in this area had already been licensed to other investors, so the group changed locations.
The most notable of Sucity’s real estate deals in Vietnam was the acquisition of the Nam Hội An project in 2014. Nam Hội An is a major urban and tourism complex in the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, situated in Duy Nghĩa and Duy Hải communes, Duy Xuyên District, Quảng Nam Province.
At the end of 2010, an investment license for the project was granted to a joint venture between VinaCapital and Malaysia's Genting Berhad, with VinaCapital holding 80% of the project's shares and Genting only 20%. However, in 2012, owing to difficult economic conditions, Gentinh Berhad announced its withdrawal from the project.
In 2014, the Nam Hội An casino project announced new investors: a joint venture between Chow Tai Fook–Sun City and VinaCapital. The project covers 985ha with total investment of USD 4 billion, including phase 1 covering 163ha with investment of USD 650 million.
As Vietnam moves to complete the legal framework for casino businesses and pilot allowing Vietnamese people to gamble in domestic casinos, Chow Tai Fook–Sun City has begun to reveal its ambition to take over the entire Vietnamese casino market. Recently, Chow Tai Fook–Sun City has been completing procedures to acquire a 34% stake in the 4 billion USD Nam Hội An Casino project, whose initial phase involves investment of 650 million USD.
According to the newspaper Deal Street Asia reported that the project management company had invested USD 89 million in the initial phase and secured a loan worth USD 484 million. The project needs another USD 77 million to continue, and Suncity will contribute USD 26.2 million based on its 34% shareholding.
Suncity has also signed a consulting contract for a casino project within a resort complex with a total investment of more than 2 billion USD in Vân Đồn (Quảng Ninh Province), developed by Mặt Trời Vân Đồn Joint Stock Company, a member of Sun Group. Suncity is also negotiating to become the casino operator in this future special administrative and economic zone. The economic zone currently has the Prime Minister's support and favorable conditions for development.
Make the Most of Tourism Resources
To make full use of its tourism resources, Suncity also develops resort hotels, villas and golf courses for tourists.
In phase I, the project will build a 313-room hotel for regular guests, an all-suite hotel with a total of 141 bedrooms, a resort with 70 rental villas and 30 villas to, and a complex of 236 hotel apartments for sale and rent.
The hotel and villa complex will be operated and managed by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts and New World Hotels. These are relatively new investors in Vietnamese real estate, but their results on overseas projects promise a refined, high-quality resort destination.
Suncity will therefore serve not only tourists from the other two operators but also maximize its service to casino customers. The group's initial ambition is to turn Nam Hội An into an entertainment and casino destination for wealthy domestic and international visitors, while also attracting many tourists through its beautiful coastal location and high-end amenities.
Collected
>> Great Articles on Entrepreneurship
>> Success Energy Activation Course
