Melco IR in Japan will cost up to $US10 billion

According to Lawrence Ho, CEO of the company, that is the estimated amount for building the Yokohama resort, expected to become the greatest in the world

Japan.- Yokohama metropolitan integrated resort is generating huge expectations since Melco Resorts & Entertainment Chairman and CEO, Lawrence Ho, said it will be the greatest resort in the world. Now, he put the idea into numbers: the project will cost up to $US 10 billion.

Ho told Bloomberg agency details about the project: “We’ve spent the most of our time and resources in the last couple of years in Yokohama which is conveniently situated 30 minutes from Tokyo and is very close to Haneda airport”, said in an interview.

“To build the greatest and most amazing IR in the world in Japan needs to be situated in a city where the infrastructure and accessibility is there. That’s why we’ve declared that we are Yokohama First. Our main and only focus is on developing in Yokohama. Our view is that a resort in Yokohama will cost at least US$10 billion and will have some of the latest technological advancements in terms of smart cities and technologies”, he explained.

According to Ho, besides how expensive the project is, growth opportunities as Japan will always be Melco’s key investment strategy: “Our focus is always going to be on organic growth”.

“Over the last few years we’ve given significant capital back to the shareholders via dividends, share buybacks, but at the same time Melco will always be a growth company and the biggest growth company in my lifetime will be Japan”, he added, and then he said to conclude. “We will continue to look at how best to deploy the capital but again our first priority will always be to focus on organic growth.”