Fisherman's Wharf, casino and hotel may be packaged for public share offer
Gaming magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun and partner David Chow Kam-fai may package Macau's struggling Fisherman's Wharf theme park, the 551-room Landmark Hotel and two casinos for an initial public share offering before the end of the year, industry and market sources said.
Mr Ho and Mr Chow own 51 per cent and 49 per cent of Fisherman's Wharf, a 1.2 million square foot attraction built at a cost of HK$1.9 billion and opened on New Year's Eve last year. The park has had a rocky start, falling well short of attendance projections of 60,000 people per day.
Financial figures for the theme park were not available but market sources said the original investors had already been asked to contribute an extra US$100 million to overcome a funds shortage.
The mooted Fisherman's Wharf IPO comes as a legal dispute continues to delay the HK$15 billion listing of Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), Mr Ho's main gaming company. He had planned to complete the IPO in the first half of this year, but the Hong Kong stock exchange called a halt after Mr Ho's estranged sister, Winnie Ho Yuen-ki, challenged the shareholding structure of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau, which owns 80 per cent of SJM.
US investment bank Merrill Lynch is said to be arranging the IPO. It declined to comment, as did Mr Chow and SJM. Industry sources said that while the size of the IPO had yet to be decided, it could take place as early as the end of this year.
Fisherman's Wharf features attractions such as a 40-metre-high erupting volcano and an Arabian fort, a concert space and convention facilities.
