Cantor Fitzgerald and Credit Suisse may aid financing of Nagasaki IR
In addition to arranging a loan portion of the capital, the financial institutions might get involved with “80 per cent of the equity part.”
Japan.- Kengo Oishi, governor of Nagasaki prefecture, has said that the financial services companies Cantor Fitzgerald and Credit Suisse are interested in acting as financial arrangers for Nagasaki’s integrated resort (IR) project.
Nagasaki is one of two cities that have submitted bids to develop IRs in Japan. Authorities chose Casinos Austria International Japan Inc as partner for their bid and expect the IR to open in 2027. The expected cost for development is JPY438.3bn (US$3.8bn), including JPY175.3bn in equity costs.
According to GGRAsia, Oishi said Cantor Fitzgerald and Credit Suisse may participate in the 80 per cent equity portion of the financing and also arrange loans for a portion of the funds. He said both companies had been issued letters of commitment.
Cantor Fitzgerald has previously been mentioned as a potential financial services provider for an IR in Wakayama. However, in April, the Wakayama prefectural council rejected plans for a proposed casino resort. A prefectural council committee had expressed concern that planning and fundraising for the project remained unclear.
JCRC requests FY2023 budget increase of nearly 10%
The Japan Casino Regulatory Commission has asked the national government for an increase in its annual budget of almost 10 per cent for the 2023 financial year, taking it to JPY3.88bn (US$27.7m). That would be an increase of JPY0.35bn from the 2022 budget and would cover an expected increase in the regulator’s staff.
The commission expects its staff numbers to increase by 12.7 per cent to 177 in the next year. The Japan Casino Regulatory Commission estimated its personnel and operational costs would rise by JPY160m year-on-year to JPY2.85bn as it sets up a structure to supervise casino operators. Other costs would reach JPY460m, up by JPY70m.
The cost of “auditing casino operators and others to verify eligibility to issue casino licenses” has been estimated at JPY220m and the cost of establishing an information technology (IT) system to check whether casino operators and others are eligible to issue casino licences is estimated at JPY60m.
