Inside Asian Gaming
INSIDE ASIAN GAMING DECEMBER 2018 56 No doubt her Master of Business Administration Degree in finance from the University of Toronto and Bachelor’s Degree in marketing from the University of Southern California will come in handy, with SJM set to ramp up preparations for the long-awaited launch of Grand Lisboa Palace in Cotai next year. Daisy Ho CHAIRMAN AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SJM Holdings POWER SCORE: 834 POSITION LAST YEAR: – CLAIMS TO FAME Daughter of Stanley Ho and sister of Pansy Ho Long-time Executive Director of Shun Tak Holdings 34 There had long been speculation over exactly how the SJM power struggle would play out once Dr Stanley Ho officially stood down. As it turns out, there was no great fight for control and no power play between Dr Ho’s wife Angela Leong and daughter Pansy Ho. Instead, it was Pansy Ho’s sister Daisy taking the throne in what appears to be an amicable solution to the situation – at least for the time being. Daisy, 53, was elected to the board of SJM Holdings in mid-2017 following the retirement of Dr Rui Cunha and 12 months later was just about unanimously voted in to replace her father as Chairman. Dr Ho, now deep into his 90s, has been deeply ill since taking a fall in his home in 2009 but only stepped down officially as Chairman of SJM in June. But Daisy Ho is no stranger to high-powered roles. She was appointed an Executive Director of Shun Tak Holdings Limited in 1994 and has been the Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Shun Tak since 1999. She is also a member of the executive committee, remuneration committee and nomination committee and a director of a number of its subsidiaries. He is less than two years into his tenure but SKYCITY boss Graeme Stephens has had to find his feet in a hurry. In 2017, one of his very first tasks after taking over from predecessor Nigel Morrison was to sign off on a development agreement with the South Australian government to undertake an AU$330 million revamp of Adelaide Casino. ThatprocesstookplaceinthemidstofanAustralia-wideVIPrevenue slump brought about by the arrests of 19 Crown Resorts employees in mainland China in October 2016 for gambling promotion. Since then, SKYCITY has seen many of those high-end players return, with VIP turnover up39.2%inFY18 toNZ$11.9billion, including a76%increase in turnover to NZ$7.5 billion in the six months to 30 June 2018. The company is also celebrating the sale of SKYCITY Darwin to a US group for AU$188 million in a deal that allows SKYCITY to retain rights to its Darwin VIP operations for a period of two years after the completion of the sale. Stephens, whose father once oversaw Zimbabwean retail and hospitality conglomerate Meikles Limited, hasn’t forgotten the company’s Kiwi heritage either, having flagged his desire to reposition the company’s flagship Auckland property as a genuine focal point of the city. ASIAN GAMING POWER 50 2 0 1 8
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