Archive for April, 2007

Macau Running Out of Space for New Housing

We have some snippets from last weeks Investment Forum, obviously they are casino and property related. Again the greatest concern seems to be about the availability of land to develop new housing projects. How long before we see Hengqin and Zuhai relaxing their border controls to allow the expected influx of over 100,000 workers

Too Many Macau Casino's Will Hurt Operators Margins

Macau will continue to outperform the Las Vegas Strip as the world's largest gaming hub in the future, but increased supply will hurt casino operators' margins, according to Morgan Stanley managing director Rob Hart. Hart expects Macau gaming revenue to hit HK$70 billion this year, up 27 percent from HK$50 billion in 2006. He also upgraded

Crown Macau Getting Ready For May 9 Opening

Crown Macau now is putting down the finishing touches for the much anticipated soft opening to the public on May 9, 2007. They are opening on a trail basis as of April 28, 2007 and Grand Opening event has been planned for May 12, 2007. We understand, but that has not been confirmed, that

Macau Property Prices Boost May Undermine Casino Revenues

Morgan Stanley strategist Rob Hart is cautious about Macau gaming stocks. Competition is intensifying as established casino operators compete in a relatively small area, but at the same time new casinos are creating job opportunities which are going to boost Macau's residential property sector, according to a Morgan Stanley strategist. Additional casinos, retailers and hotel spaces in

Troublesome Times Coming Up For Macau

Simon Montlake wrote recently in the Christian Science Monitor about Macau’s “exhilarating” growth of late. Imagine yourself in a town where the GDP rose 17 percent last year and the law mandated that the highest paying of the thousands of new jobs must go to you, a local resident. Desperate casinos are hiring college students before

Will The Macau Casino Boom Last?

Perched behind the front desk at the Pousada de Mong-Ha, a colonial-style hotel in Macau, Iris Lo looks every inch a professional hotelier in her dark bow tie, and gray tunic over a blue-striped blouse. In a few months, that's what she could be. For now, Ms. Lo is a fourth-year student at Macau's elite Institute

Macau News April 2007

Wynn's Le Reve settlement Steve Wynn has settled an out of court settlement with Lloyd's of London over a Picasso painting he damaged. Repairs for the damaged painting, Le Reve, were estimated to be US$85 million. Wynn was showing the painting (which is French for "The Dream") to a buyer to sell for US$139 million when

Will Shopping Malls in Macau Work?

Here are snippets as reported by Bloomberg outlining the poor performance of shopping malls in China. Surely this is going to affect Macau as well and must send off warning bells to the developers planning shopping center here. Macau is China after all and most of the rules apply here as 60% of the visitors

Fashion Bar To Open in Macau

As shown on Fashion TV there will be opening of a Fashion Bar or called f.bar later this year in Macau. We are not sure of the location as yet, but here's a shot what a f.bar looks like. The franchise fee is a cool €200-300,000 per year! One things is for sure, it

Macau Launches Air & Space Workshop

The Workshop on Introduction to Air&Space Law and International Conference on Contemporary Issues in Air & Space Law was launched here Thursday. The three-day workshop, which was hosted by Macao's Civil Aviation Authority, aimed to promote air and space law and Macao's tourism image as well. The themes covered the aeronautical authorities, airlines, airports, air services providers,