Inside Asian Gaming

August 2015 inside asian gaming 45 the island nation’s population, represent 12%of gross domestic product, and is said to be 97% completed, according to lawyers for the project. The project is estimated to have 2,200 rooms in four hotels, which include the Hyatt, Rosewood and SLS Lux brands. Investment Fund Cuts Stake in Wynn Resorts Investment firm T. Rowe Price Group, once the largest single shareholder in Wynn Resorts Ltd., has reduced its stake to 4.6% after the firm’s second massive sell-off since April, reports Las Vegas Review-Journal . The firm once owned 17 million shares, or 16.8% of the company. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price said it now owns 4.7 million shares. The company did not give a reason for the sale. In April, T. Rowe Price reduced its ownership stake by 40%, selling almost 7 million shares. The stock sale by T. Rowe Price left Wynn Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn as the company’s largest stockholder. Mr Wynn, 73, owns just under 10% of the company’s shares. However, his ex-wife, Elaine Wynn, also owns just under 10%, although Steve Wynn has 500,000 more shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg . Steve Wynn controls the voting rights of his ex-wife’s shares through a stockholders agreement that she is contesting. In April, T. Rowe Price voted in support of the company’s board against Elaine Wynn’s proxy to remain on the board after she wasn’t re-nominated for a seat she has held on the panel since the company was formed. Combined, Steve Wynn and Elaine Wynn control 19.3% of Wynn Resorts. Macau Legend to Build Casino in Cape Verde Hong Kong-listed Macau Legend Development Ltd. is reportedly building an integrated resort on Cape Verde islands, an archipelagic nation off the northwest coast of Africa. The gaming and entertainment complex, which is expected to need US$200 million in investment, will include high-end hotels, casinos, conference centers and yacht piers, among other facilities, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported last month. Construction will start as early as next year, and agreements are expected to be signed with relevant authorities shortly, the newspaper said. Meanwhile, Macau Legend issued a profit alert last month, signaling a loss in the first half of the year. LVS Earnings Slide 30% on Macau Weakness Las Vegas Sands Corp. said its second-quarter earnings fell 30% as the slowdown in Macau hurt revenue. The company said that while Macau remains challenging, particularly in the VIP segment, cost discpline helped its margins there and it also saw strong growth in its retail mall business. LVS said second-quarter revenue at the Sands China business fell almost 27% to $1.77 billion. Segment net income dropped 37% to $388.7 million. The company’s US properties include the Venetian in Las Vegas and Pennsylvania’s Sands Bethlehem. Overall, LVS reported a profit of $469.2 million, or 59 cents a share, down from $671.4 million, or 83 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 19% to $3.09 billion. INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS Critical Baha Mar Resort Hearing Postponed A judge in the Bahamas agreed on 31st July to delay a critical decision about the future of the stalled $3.5 billion resort project Baha Mar. A hearing on the Bahamian government’s request to have a liquidator take over the restructuring of Baha Mar was delayed to 19th August to give the government enough time to propose a new liquidator. PricewaterhouseCoopers had been put forth by the government for the job, but a conflict of interest arose with China State Construction Engineering—the parent company of the contractor on BahaMar, with whom the project’s owner and developer has been at odds—according to a Baha Mar spokesman. The government is working to propose another firm. The delay gives developer Baha Mar Ltd. an additional two weeks of runway to try to reach a deal with its lenders that would keep it in control of the project. Official negotiations in Beijing broke down earlier as lender Export-Import Bank of China and Baha Mar couldn’t reach a deal on the terms of $400 million in financing the company needs to complete the project. However, according to a government news release, the parties agreed to continue trying to reach a consensual resolution. Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie has called that kind of resolution the preferred outcome. Baha Mar Ltd., based in the Bahamas, filed for bankruptcy in the US on 29th June, claiming $2.7 billion in debt. The resort is of great importance to the Bahamas. It is expected eventually to employ 1.5% of Baha Mar