Genting unveils details of Singapore casino bid
Business Times October 17, 2006
Genting unveils details of Singapore casino bid
October 17 2006
GENTING Bhd, one of three bidders for Singapore’s second casino license, said its S$5.2 billion (RM12.1 billion) proposed resort could draw 10 million tourists a year by 2015.
The resort, which would include a Universal Studios theme park, would generate S$15 billion (RM35 billion) a year in tourism spending, Genting said in a statement yesterday.
The company also plans to spend an additional S$200 million (RM466 million) a year to rejuvenate the project over 30 years, it said.
The resort must remain “fresh, appealing and at the cutting edge,” Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, Genting’s chief executive officer, said in the statement, adding the project would “fulfill Singapore’s vision for a large-scale iconic development”.
Asia’s biggest casino operator is betting that a Singapore casino will win customers from the more than 2.5 billion people who live within a five-hour flight radius of Singapore.
Genting, which runs a cruise line and a mountain-top casino in Malaysia, is competing against Kerzner International Ltd. and Eighth Wonder for the site on Sentosa island.
Genting expects the Singapore gaming resort to generate between US$1 billion (RM3.69 billion) and US$2 billion (US$7.38 billion) in revenue in the first year of operation, the company said.
Singapore, which plans to double the number of tourists to 17 million by 2015, said the ability to draw visitors would be the key criteria for the casino-resort, followed by the architecture, the amount invested and the track record of the bidders.
The proposed Universal Studios theme park is expected to draw five million visitors annually, Genting said in a fact sheet, with 22 attractions and at least 16 newly designed rides.
“We grew up in Asia and know the region like the back of our hand,” Lim said in the statement. “We understand the Asian tourist whether they are Chinese, Japanese, Indian or Indonesian.”
Genting’s bid includes an 8-hectare marine life park, which would house an “Oceanarium” featuring 700,000 aquatic animals and a lagoon.
Singapore’s Government expects to award the second casino licence before the end of the year.
Las Vegas Sands Corp, the world’s biggest casino-operator by market value, won the first site in the city’s downtown area with a bid valued at more than US$3 billion (RM11.1 billion). No more sites will be offered for at least a decade.
Both casino resorts are expected to open by 2010.
Genting is bidding through its units Genting International plc and Star Cruises Ltd, of which Lim is chairman.
Genting, the world’s fifth-largest casino operator by market value, said the Singapore resort could help make it one of the world’s biggest gaming companies.
Meanwhile, Kerzner said it plans to spend S$5.28 billion (RM12.3 billion) on Singapore’s second casino-resort project called ‘Atlantis Sentosa’, after its Bahamas resort.
The Paradise Island, Bahamas-based company, which is partnering Singapore developer CapitaLand Ltd, expects the proposed resort to draw 10 million visitors in its first year of operation and predicts the number would increase 30 per cent in five years, Tobin Prior, head of Kerzner’s international operation, told reporters yesterday.
Atlantis Sentosa will aim to create a unique family experience, “whether this is your first or tenth visit,” chairman Sol Kerzner said in a joint statement with CapitaLand yesterday. The project will include the latest technology for family-entertainment rides and an aquarium experience, it said.
Eighth Wonder, which pledged to invest US$3.5 billion (RM12.9 billion) on the project, yesterday roped in Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd., which manages luxury resorts and spas from the Seychelles to Phuket, to strengthen its bid.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. will manage four other hotels, including one under its W Hotel brand, the company has said.
Eighth Wonder and Isle of Capri Casinos Inc are jointly bidding with Melco PBL Entertainment. Melco PBL, a joint venture between James Packer’s Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd and Melco International Ltd, headed by the son of gaming billionaire Stanley Ho, will manage the casino and related activities. – Bloomberg
