Macau | Grand Lisboa Palace likely to open in H2 2019 – Brokerage firms

By
Yi Wei Wong

Macau (MNA) – Analysts within Union Gaming and Sanford C. Bernstein believe that the completion of Grand Lisboa Palace, a Cotai development by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM Holdings) currently under construction will likely to be delayed to the second half of 2019.

In a recent earnings release, SJM Holdings wrote that the construction of the integrated resort on the Cotai Strip will be completed in the first half of 2019, with the Chief Executive Officer Ambrose So Shu Fai being quoted as saying that the group was, “looking forward to completion of construction in the coming months”.

The note from the Union Gaming states that, ‘given the length of obtaining the necessary government permits and approvals, we still think that very late 2019 is the most likely opening time frame. As such, we continue to model a 2020 economic impact for the property’.

According to Bernstein, although the process usually takes five to six months, it could take longer, with the project being on target to wrap up at HK $36 billion, (US $4.6 billion).

The development will include around 2,000 guest rooms, which will be spread through its Grand Lisboa Palace Hotel, Palazzo Versace Macau, and Karl Lagerfeld Hotel, as well as the property including a mall, measuring 530,000 square metres.

The Union Gaming, on the other hand, expects that Lisboeta, a theme park which is being developed by the Macau Theme Park Resort Company, owned by Angela Leong On Kei and her son, Arnaldo Ho Yau Heng, to open sometime during 2020.

The brokerage sees the opening of Lisboeta as a positive way to draw more customers to Grand Lisboa Palace, although the consumers targeted by Lisboeta would be considered below premium mass.