Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING DECEMBER 2017 64 ASIAN GAMING POWER 50 2 0 1 7 Yang Zhihui CHAIRMAN AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Landing International POWER 596 LAST 40 SCORE YEAR CLAIMS TO FAME Developing a giant themed resort and hotel complex in Jeju Bought and sold London’s Les Ambassadeurs Club for a quick profit 44 You can’t accuse Landing International Chairman and controlling shareholder Yang Zhihui of lacking ambition. Determined to establish a presence in the gaming industry, the property developer began by outbidding multiple Korean companies to acquire a 260 hectare (642 acre) development site on the southwest end of Jeju, South Korea’s top domestic tourism spot that offers visa-free entry to mainland Chinese. Landing partnered with Genting for the US$1.8 billion Resorts World Jeju, with a theme park and condos – potentially a path to legal residency – plus a casino and 2,000 hotel rooms. The partnership came to an end late last year when Genting sold its stake in order to focus its energies on Japan, but Landing has only upped the ante in Jeju. In early September 2017, the company announced plans to raise HK$1.8 billion through the placement of shares to complete the newly named Jeju Shinhwa World – a plan it successfully fulfilled later that month. Landing also revealed its intention to accelerate construction and bring forward to 2018 the completion of the waterpark, theme park hotel and dormitory and training facilities at Jeju Shinhwa World. In regards to its share placement, the company said it had achieved “certain major developments and revised its construction and business plans in relation to its investment in Jeju Shinhwa World,” including signing agreements with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Asia Pacific Pte Ltd to launch a luxury Four Seasons resort within Jeju Shinhwa World. It also signed a theme park development agreement with Lions Gate Entertainment Inc for the development of a theme park built around world-famous movies named “Lionsgate Movie World.” As for Landing Casino, which the company bought in partnership with Genting before buying the full share, Landing plans to relocate operations from its current location at Jeju’s Hyatt Regency to its giant themed tourist attraction. In a shrewd piece of business, Yang oversaw the 2015 purchase of swanky Les Ambassadeurs Club in London’s Mayfair district for HK$1.4 billion, then sold it in September of this year for HK$2.5 billion. Chan Meng Kam PRESIDENT Golden Dragon Group POWER 595 LAST – SCORE YEAR CLAIMS TO FAME Former member of Macau’s Legislative Assembly One of the city’s biggest property owners 45