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Far East Consortium International, a Hong Kong-listed hotel operator and
property development, is seeking a seven-year loan of up to HK$600 million to
fund its hotel and casino development in Macau, bankers familiar with the
situation said.
Far East, which runs hotels and apartments under the Dorsett brand, plans to
open four hotels in Macau with about 3,000 rooms by the end of 2007.
The InterContinental Hotels Group will manage two of the hotels, one carrying
the InterContinental brand and the other branded with the company's mid-market
Holiday Inn label. Far East is in talks with Marriott International to manage
the third while the fourth will carry Far East's Dorsett label.
The company will lease 140,000 square feet of space to Las Vegas Sands, owner of
Sands Macau, the territory's first Vegas-style casino, for showrooms and a
casino.
A shopping mall, with one million sqft of retail space, will make it Macau's
largest, with a multiplex cinema, ice skating rink and rides also planned. The
total cost of the project is HK$2.8 billion.
The complex will be located on Macau's ``Cotai Strip,'' a stretch of reclaimed
land between Taipa and Coloane islands, hyped to become the Las Vegas of the
East.
The original plan called for a total of about 20 casino resorts to be opened in
stages with the first seven, each with 1,500 rooms, to be completed by 2007.
Wynn Macau, Macau Sands and MGM Paradise are all at work on financing casino
projects with international banks eager to cash in on the territory's
construction boom.
But with such big names seeking financing, smaller organizations, such as Far
East Consortium, are having a relatively harder time attracting bankers, who
prefer to stick with better-known names that have a good credit track record in
the gaming sector.
``We're only looking at US sponsors,'' a banker who declined to be identified
said.
Las Vegas magnate Steve Wynn, behind Wynn Macau, is credited with revitalizing
Las Vegas and turning it into a international tourist attraction. Sheldon
Adelson, backing Sands Macau, also helped raise the city's status on the
international convention circuit in addition to running casinos.
Far Eastern owns hotels and apartments in Hong Kong and Malaysia and is at work
on a hotel in Japan.
tim.leemaster@singtaonewscorp.com
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