Las Vegas casino billionaire Steve Wynn yesterday officially confirmed what gaming industry watchers have known for some time: the company he serves as chairman and chief executive is turning 'Chinese'.
Speaking to reporters before today's launch of Wynn Macau's initial public offering in Hong Kong, which seeks to raise up to HK$12.6 billion by selling a 25 per cent stake in the Macau business, Wynn said: 'With this IPO, we're a Chinese company with Chinese ownership.'
By any financial metric, parent firm Nasdaq-listed Wynn Resorts has already been a Chinese company for some time.
A toe-to-toe comparison of second-quarter data for the 600-room Wynn Macau and Wynn's two Las Vegas Strip mega-resorts, which have a combined 4,700 rooms, shows the Macau property booked 32 per cent more revenue and 56 per cent more pre-tax earnings than its Las Vegas siblings.
At the high end, the Wynn Macau share sale values the firm at 34 times forecast earnings, or US$6.5 billion. That represents 72 per cent of Wynn Resorts' total market capitalisation, which stood at US$8.98 billion, based on Tuesday's closing share price.
Wynn said the company's motivation for the blockbuster deal was to 'share the ownership of this [gaming] concession with the Chinese public participants, Chinese financial institutions and basically to become more of a Chinese company'.