James Packer To Bid For Second Singapore Licence

Written on October 11, 2006 by admin

As reported, Australia’s Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd chairman James Packer has made a surprise appearance with a Las Vegas firm bidding for Singapore’s second casino licence.

This is an interesting development indeed as PLB are developing casino’s in Macau and put in a bid for the first casino in Singapore with Melco but pulled out because of high cost. Maybe the troubles that Melco has with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange may have something to do with it, as to date this stil has to be resolved. It’s believed that PBL is keen on a listing on the Nasdaq as Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Macau have raised huge amounts of funds to develop their casinos’.

Full article by Bloomberg | Eighth Wonder, which developed the New York New York resort in Las Vegas, submitted its bid to build and run Singapore’s second casino, the last license the city- state’s government will issue for at least a decade.

The Las Vegas-based company, Kerzner International Ltd. and Genting Bhd. may each propose investments of as much as $2.9 billion by today’s bidding deadline, Merrill Lynch & Co. said in a report yesterday. The city’s government has said it will announce the winner by the end of the year.

Singapore lifted its ban on casinos last year in a bid to double overseas visitor arrivals to 17 million and triple tourism spending to S$30 billion ($19 billion) by 2015. Eighth Wonder, Kuala Lumpur-based Genting and Bahamas-based Kerzner are competing for 2.5 billion potential Asian customers who live within a five-hour flight of the city-state.

“The winning bidder will be the one that offers the Singapore government the lowest execution risk through the key stages of design, construction and operation,” Sean Monaghan, an analyst at Merrill Lynch in Singapore, said in the report.

Read rest of story here: Bloomberg Singapore Bid

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