Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd confirmed on Monday implementation of a CNY724-million (US$100.9-million) acquisition previously described by a brokerage as “strategic”, for office space to be converted to a “three-star hotel” on Hengqin island. The latter is a piece of Chinese mainland territory (pictured) next door to Macau.
Monday’s update added the facility will be “not exceeding 250 rooms”.
SJM Holdings announced in December the Hengqin deal, noting the planned hotel would be “leveraging the prestigious Lisboa brand”. That is a reference to the branding used by the company for three gaming-related properties within Macau itself: the Hotel Lisboa, Grand Lisboa, and Grand Lisboa Palace.
The latest announcement – in the form of a company press release and a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing – didn’t give the precise branding for the new Hengqin hotel.
The releases clarified the vendor as Zhuhai Hengqin Shun Tak Property Development Co Ltd, a unit of Shun Tak Holdings Ltd. The latter is a Hong Kong-listed property and shipping firm started by the late Stanley Ho Hung Sun, the founder of SJM Holdings.
The casino company’s Monday filing on the deal affirmed it as a connected transaction under Hong Kong bourse rules.
The deal will be funded via SJM Holdngs’ “internal resources, existing banking facilities, and/or other appropriate financing arrangements,” said the filing.
SJM Holdings noted that the property is “adjacent” to Hengqin Port – the border checkpoint between Macau’s Cotai district and Hengqin island. It added the new hotel would have “strategic proximity” to its flagship casino resorts Grand Lisboa Palace in Cotai, a circa 10-minute drive away, and to Grand Lisboa Hotel on Macau peninsula, a destination that takes about 30 minutes to reach by road.
The Hengqin property has a total gross floor area of approximately 19,781 square metres (212,921 sq. feet).
The conversion and renovation are due to be completed “within 24 months”, SJM Holdings noted in its Monday filing.
The conversion will need the approval of the mainland and Macau authorities running what is known as the ‘Guangdong-Macau Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin’, an economic project on Hengqin designed to help to diversify Macau’s economy away from gaming.
The press release on the hotel deal had comments from SJM Holdings’ chairman, Daisy Ho Chiu Fung.
She stated: “This project represents more than an expansion of our hotel portfolio. It reflects our strong alignment with national strategies to deepen integration between Hengqin and Macau, and our firm belief in the long-term growth potential of cross-border tourism and cooperation.”
She added: “Backed by decades of hospitality expertise and a trusted brand reputation, SJM is well-positioned to deliver our signature service excellence to the mass market segment, while unlocking new avenues for collaboration with the vendor and other mainland partners across multiple fronts.”
The press release added the acquisition represented SJM Holdings’ “capital-efficient expansion” into the “underserved mass market segment”, and would generate “incremental revenue streams”.
