MANILA, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Suncity Group
Holdings Ltd 1383.HK unveiled plans on Tuesday to enter the
fast-growing Philippines gambling market, with a deal to operate
a casino and resort in the country's version of the Las Vegas
gaming strip.
The deal marks the Hong Kong group's first step in tapping
Manila's gaming industry, which has grown rapidly over the past
decade, attracting foreign entrants and generating tax revenue.
Suncity said in a statement it has acquired a majority stake
in the Philippines' Suntrust Home Developers Inc SUN.PS , which
plans to co-develop and then manage and operate a five-star
hotel and casino in Manila.
"Outside of Macau the most decent city for gaming is Manila
because of the scale, three international brands and facilities,
airport. Quite convenient," Andrew Lo, executive director at
Suncity, told Reuters.
Alvin Chau, the founder of Suncity, has grown the company
from operating a high roller table in Wynn Macau's casino in
2007 to a sprawling conglomerate with businesses ranging from
property to autos and thousands of employees.
In a separate statement, Suntrust said it signed a deal to
develop and exclusively operate the main hotel casino portion of
an integrated resort in the capital. Suntrust would operate the
casino and a hotel with at least 400 rooms, around 400 gaming
tables and 1,200 slot machines for both mass market and high
rollers.
Shares in Suntrust were suspended from trading on Tuesday.
Its shares surged 37% on Monday.
Suntrust will lease the site for the casino-hotel from the
developers of the larger Westside City Resorts World project,
including Genting Hong Kong Ltd 0678.HK , which will also
include a retail centre and residential apartments.
As of end-June, the Westside developers had spent 96.5
billion Philippine pesos ($1.89 billion) on the project that
will start operations before 2023.
Philippines' gross gaming revenues rose 14% to 120.48
billion pesos ($2.36 billion) in the first half, government data
showed.
The industry includes 10 private casino firms operating
1,785 gaming tables and 10,799 electronic gaming machines,
according to government data. The state gaming regulator Pagcor
also operates several casinos totalling 477 tables and 9,751
gaming machines.
Suncity's acquistion of Suntrust is subject to regulatory
checks.
($1 = 51.02 Philippine pesos)
($1 = 7.8401 Hong Kong dollars)