{"id":18106,"date":"2021-05-20T15:32:09","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T15:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=18106"},"modified":"2026-04-23T19:21:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:21:24","slug":"japan-wakayama-remains-optimistic-about-ir-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-wakayama-remains-optimistic-about-ir-bid","title":{"rendered":"Japan: Wakayama remains optimistic about IR bid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Wakayama prefecture is expected to make a decision on Clairvest\u2019s IR proposal in the following weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Japan.-\u00a0<strong>Wakayama\u2019s IR bid<\/strong>\u00a0continues to be at risk after Suncity Group\u2019s decision to pull out, but the <strong>prefecture remains confident<\/strong>\u00a0the city will advance with its sole remaining contender: <strong>Clairvest Group.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wakayama\u00a0<strong>in a similar situation as Osaka<\/strong>, which is also down to one contender for its\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/osaka-worried-about-future-of-ir-development\">IR bid<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<strong>MGM-Orix<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wakayama&#8217;s governor Yoshinobu Nisaka said:\u00a0<strong>&#8220;It is not ideal that there is only one company<\/strong>\u00a0and we just choose them or don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If<strong>&nbsp;it is very unlikely that the area development plan we propose to the national Government will pass<\/strong>, then we will not select this operator.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two weeks ago, the\u00a0<strong>Wakayama IR Promotion Council<\/strong>\u00a0had urged Wakayama prefecture to\u00a0<strong>take a decision as soon as possible<\/strong>\u00a0on its preferred private partner for its\u00a0IR bid. It was due to name its IR partner back in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wakayama prefecture will analyse\u00a0<strong>Clairvest&#8217;s proposal in the following weeks,\u00a0<\/strong>although authorities said that if the company does not meet requirements, the prefecture&#8217;s IR plans could be pushed back by a few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far,&nbsp;<strong>Nagasaki seems to be the city with the best chance<\/strong>&nbsp;of gaining one of Japan\u2019s planned three licences to&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/nagasaki-to-launch-education-consortium-to-train-future-ir-workers\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">develop integrated resorts<\/a>. The prefecture has selected&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/nagasaki-3-operators-selected-for-next-ir-round\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">three operators as potential partners<\/a>&nbsp;for its bid. A final candidate is likely to be selected in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for Yokohama,\u00a0\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-galaxy-entertainment-quits-yokohama-ir-bid\">Galaxy Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0has\u00a0<strong>pulled out<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>of the RFP process\u00a0<\/strong>as the business climate had been \u201cexacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the withdrawal of Galaxy Entertainment, four companies remain interested in developing an IR in Yokohama:&nbsp;<strong>Genting Singapore Limited, Melco Resorts &amp; Entertainment Limited, Sega Sammy Holdings and Shotoku<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wakayama prefecture is expected to make a decision on Clairvest\u2019s IR proposal in the following weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Wakayama Prefecture's Integrated Resort (IR) bid faces uncertainty with Clairvest Group as its sole remaining contender after Suncity Group's withdrawal. Governor Yoshinobu Nisaka expressed reservations about the limited choice and the necessity for the proposal to secure national government approval, potentially delaying the project by years if requirements are not met. Meanwhile, Nagasaki appears to be progressing well, while Yokohama still has four interested parties despite Galaxy Entertainment's exit due to the pandemic.","focusai_entities":"Clairvest Group, Suncity Group, MGM-Orix, Yoshinobu Nisaka, Wakayama IR Promotion Council, Galaxy Entertainment, Genting Singapore Limited, Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, Sega Sammy Holdings, Shotoku","focusai_location":"Japan, Wakayama, Osaka, Nagasaki, Yokohama","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Wakayama IR Viability?","query":"What specific criteria will the national government apply to Wakayama's area development plan, and what is the probability of Clairvest's proposal meeting these stringent requirements given the governor's stated concerns?"},{"label":"Competitive Landscape Shift?","query":"How does the reduced competition in Wakayama and Osaka, contrasted with the multi-bidder scenarios in Nagasaki and Yokohama, impact the overall strategic positioning and valuation of the remaining IR contenders in Japan?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,161,16338,158],"tags":[23632,23702],"class_list":["post-18106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-daily-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-integrated-resorts","tag-suncity-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18106"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18141,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18106\/revisions\/18141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}