Some banks are reconsidering their commitments to Japan’s first integrated resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Japan.- Plans for Japan\u2019s first integrated resort (IR) in Osaka were approved in April<\/a> but the project reportedly faces difficulties that could further delay construction. MGM Resorts<\/a> has already put the opening date back to the first half of 2030, but it appears some major lenders are hesitant about the project<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Concerns about gambling harm and public safety, risks of soil contamination and liquefaction on Yumeshima Island and the forced closures of international casinos amid the Covid-19 pandemic forcing casinos are apparently making it difficult to secure loans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) and MUFG Bank, based in Osaka, are expected to lead a syndicated loan of between JPY200bn (US$1.5bn) to JPY300bn (US$2.23bn) each. Resona Bank and SBI Shinsei Bank have expressed their willingness to participate in the project, while Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Development Bank of Japan have also discussed joining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Asian Gaming Brief, arrangers have also reached out to smaller regional banks and life insurers <\/strong>to create a team of purely Japanese entities. However, Mizuho Bank, which is yet to respond, is absent from the list of expected participants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n MUFG and SMBC have adopted a project finance approach, banking on the debt being repaid from future income. Mizuho has opted for a more traditional corporate finance approach based on creditworthiness. If Mizuho backs out of the loans, other lenders will need to fill a funding gap of JPY100bn (US$740m).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some banks are reconsidering their commitments to Japan’s first integrated resort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":32939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Japan's inaugural Integrated Resort in Osaka faces significant financing hurdles, with major lenders reconsidering their participation in a JPY200bn-JPY300bn syndicated loan. Concerns over project risks, including environmental issues, public safety, and the long-term impact of global events on casino operations, are causing hesitancy among key financial institutions. This situation could lead to a JPY100bn funding gap and further delay the project's opening, currently slated for H1 2030.","focusai_entities":"MGM Resorts, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., SMBC, MUFG Bank, Resona Bank, SBI Shinsei Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Development Bank of Japan, Asian Gaming Brief, Mizuho Bank","focusai_location":"Japan, Osaka, Yumeshima Island","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.8), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Funding Gap Mitigation","query":"What specific alternative financing mechanisms or government guarantees are being explored to mitigate the JPY100bn funding gap if Mizuho Bank withdraws its commitment, and how might this impact the project's overall capital structure and debt service coverage ratios?"},{"label":"Regulatory Impact Assessment","query":"How might the identified concerns regarding gambling harm, public safety, and environmental risks influence future regulatory compliance requirements and the evolution of governance frameworks for IR developments in Japan?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,163],"tags":[23632,24020],"class_list":["post-777004953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-finance-news","tag-integrated-resorts","tag-mgm-orix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004953","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=777004953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777004967,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004953\/revisions\/777004967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777004953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777004953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777004953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}