Casino magnate Ho takes to the skies in Macau gaming battles

07.09.2007, Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über «Casino magnate Ho takes to the skies in Macau gaming battles».

Hong Kong: Casino magnate Stanley Ho will expand his fleet of jet aircrafts in an effort to lure gamblers to Macau, his airline said Thursday, as competition to attract high- rollers to the city heats up.

Jet Asia, the aviation arm of Ho's conglomerate STDM, will increase its current fleet of three planes to ten, in order to provide an improved service to VIPs heading to the southern Chinese territory.

"Part of it, of course, is to do with competition," Jet Asia's Chief Executive Chuck Woods told AFP.

"But also it is part of our overall effort to develop better services for our gaming clients and in particular our high-end clients."

Jet Asia has ordered six new Hawker eight-seat jet aircraft and one executive airliner from an as-yet undecided manufacturer, the company said, adding the planes would start arriving in November.

The announcement comes in the face of increasing competition for Ho and his famous Lisboa casinos, in particular the giant new Venetian complex which is already jetting high-rollers into Macau and is even set to launch its own fleet of ferries from Hong Kong to the former Portuguese territory.

Ho, who for 40 years held a monopoly on gambling in the southern Chinese territory, has seen his market share of the business slide with the opening since 2004 of rival Las Vegas-style casinos.

---------------------- PBL Macau casino refinancing hit by credit crisis

The financing of Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd's (PBL) Macau casino joint venture has been restructured as a consequence of the global credit crunch.

Melco PBL Entertainment Ltd (MPEL) says it has signed a USD 1.75 billion senior debt facility with a syndicate of six major international banks rather than the original USD 2.75 billion finance deal announced in June.

"The recent adverse change in credit market conditions in the United States resulted in a restructuring of the USD 2,750,000,000 commitment secured by MPBL Gaming in June 2007 into the facilities as announced today," MPEL said in a statement.

"The facilities provide MPBL Gaming with financing sufficient to meet the projected cost of constructing and developing the first phase of City of Dreams."

The majority of the funds, USD 1.5 billion, will be a seven year term loan facility, to finance construction of the City of Dreams casino and entertainment resort.

The remaining USD 250 million will form a five year revolving credit facility, available for contingencies and other working capital requirements.

The facilities are non recourse to PBL. However, PBL and Melco International Development Limited (which owns 41.4% of MPEL along with PBL) have each undertaken to provide a Letter of Credit for USD 125 million which will be able to be used, if necessary, to support completion of the City of Dreams should the facilities be insufficient to fund completion.

The banking syndicate that will provide the funds includes ANZ Banking Group Limited, Bank of America Securities Asia Limited, Barclays Capital, Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG Hong Kong Branch as coordinating lead arrangers.

Über Glücksspiele in Macau - Gambling in Macao:

Macau (englisch Macao) liegt rund 50 Kilometer westlich von Hongkong und ist das Glücksspiel-Paradies in Asien.

Macau hat rund 40 Spielcasinos. Die grössten Casinos sind The Venetian Macao, MGM Macao, Wynn Macao, Galaxy StarWorld, City of Dreams, Sands Macao, Casino Lisboa.

Neben den riesigen und farbenfrohen Casinobuildings ist eines der Wahrzeichen der Macau Tower (Fernsehturm mit 338 Meter) mit atemberaubenden Ausblicken auf die Stadt.

Macau erstreckt sich über eine Fläche von 115.3 km2 und hat rund 620'000 Einwohner.

--- Ende Artikel / Pressemitteilung Casino magnate Ho takes to the skies in Macau gaming battles ---


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