MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) CEO Bill Hornbuckle said the gaming company views Genting Malaysia’s elbow grease to procure a Macau permit as credible.
In an interview earliest this wekk with CNBC from the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas, Hornbuckle said MGM, which owns 56% of MGM China, is taking “very seriously” Genting’s proposal to move into Macau. The Bahasa Kebangsaan gaming behemoth is the seventh bidder vying for half a dozen gaming permits inward the special administrative region (SAR), with the other sextuplet beingness the constituted concessionaires.
Genting stunned the gaming world a month ago, revealing plans to compete for 1 of the Captain Hicks Macau permits. Much of the ball over was attributable to the fact Macau authorities said just now sextuplet licenses would follow granted inward the retendering process, prompting analysts and manufacture observers to hypothesize the established operators there would live reapproved without surprise.
Those half-dozen are Galaxy Entertainment, Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ: MLCO), MGM China, Sands China, SJM Holdings, and Wynn Macau. Each of those companies submitted bids to renew their Macau permits.
Hornbuckle Says MGM People's Republic of China Taking Steps
Genting has the Asia-Pacific operating see and financial resources to farther solidify the believability of its Macau bid. Moreover, the manipulator excels inward nongaming amenities and experiences — something Macau authorities are prioritizing. Hornbuckle said MGM is up to the task.
We are answering the government’s calls nearly diversification, about entertainment, well-nigh tourism, and the kinds of things we reckon are sledding to parkway that market inwards the future. And the government activity has its own prime(a) to make, when this cognitive process is over,” he said in the CNBC question at G2E.
The MGM boss uttered trust in his company’s Macau proposition and in those of the other concessionaires. He noted the sestet naturalized concessionaires make been serious stewards inward the local community, and were proactive inwards helping employees and vendors during the worst years of the coronavirus pandemic.
Genting and MGM get some history, albeit rumored. In July, it was reported the Bellagio operator held talks with the Lim family nearly acquiring Genting Singapore, which owns Resorts World Sentosa — one of two structured resorts inward the city-state. No deal was reached.
Genting a Wild Card to Be Taken Seriously
While initial consensus appears to live the half-dozen concessionaires are in warm positions to get their Macau permits renewed, it would live precipitate to disregard the legitimacy of Genting’s bid. Analysts escort multiple avenues for the company’s entry into the Chinese territory.
The most conventional and least controversial would follow past financially backing an sickly manipulator — perhaps SJM Holdings — or an outright acquisition.
Some analysts take the situation a step further, noting that Macau, at the behest of Beijing, could purchase current US/China geopolitical friction to the boot I of the trinity US-based concessionaires, replacing that fellowship with Genting. That’s a complex, controversial option, and 1 officials may not want to act on with the SAR’s economic system still slumping due to the pandemic.