MGM Cotai’s opening date still uncertain
Even if the company said that is working with the government regarding the opening of the casino, a date wasn’t disclosed.
Macau.- Grant Bowie, chief executive officer and executive director of MGM China, revealed during the MGM Lion Dance Championship-Junior Lion Dance Training Program ceremony that the company is working closely with the Macau government regarding the opening of MGM Cotai. However, he didn’t actually disclose the date.
“What we are doing is focusing on our own business. We are excited about our project, so we are hoping that it’s going to be a significant contribution to Macau,” said Bowie, as Macau Daily Times reported. And added: “I think it’s quite clear that we are very excited about opening our property in Cotai, and that it will obviously give us a significant increase to our capacity […] we obviously hope that we can deliver successful results for the next decades.”
Bowie also said that the company will focus on maximising the market share and profitability by making sure that they deliver a property that’s interesting and is able to attract more visitors to Macau, “not just from China but from all over Asia and the rest of the world.”
Moreover, the official talked about the regulation set by the Chinese administration that seeks to reduce the “irrational” acquisition of foreign assets. “I think that the government of China is laying down very clear rules for investment and I am sure it will be very clear in terms of what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable.”
“I don’t think that affects us in Macau. I think we just have to continue to do our business as usual; we have to continue to be [agile] and make sure we meet all the expectations of our customers […] if we meet the expectations of our customers, we will be successful,” he added.
Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley said that the under-construction MGM Cotai casino resort will reach adjusted property earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$233 million in 2018. “MGM [China] could see the highest EBITDA growth among [Macau market] peers in 2018, and thus drive outperformance versus peers. We also expect MGM [China] to see the highest EBITDA growth among peers between 2017 and 2019,” said analysts Praveen Choudhary, Alex Poon and Thomas Allen. MGM Cotai is also expected to be focused on mass-market segment, with a 4.4 percent of the share in 2018 and 5.1 percent in 2019, based on 200 mass-market live gaming tables.
