In all likelihood, Resorts World is trying to raise the financing. Wall Street is only now starting to loosen up capital for the casino industry and Genting’s plan is not modest: It’s been talking about spending as much as $2 billion-$4 billion on a single casino-hotel.
While Genting Group is the giant of the Asian casino world, with a market capitalization of $38 billion and assets totaling somewhere in the region of $20 billion, Resorts World is far from being the only major iron the company has in the fire, so to take that many zeros out of its pocket on one project is probably deemed unwise, even with pockets that deep -- and not least when it looks around at the competition.
The last Strip property to hit that mark at opening, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, has been struggling to recoup its cost since debuting three years ago, and that in spite of numerous accolades for the hotel, its restaurant roster, and its nightlife scene. Hence, the grandiose plans – and price tag – of Resorts World Las Vegas could well be giving Wall Street pause. (Also, companies like to announce these things only when they’re good and ready, which evidently right now Genting is not.) Bottom line: Nothing has been made official and, as a Credite Suisse analyst remarked recently when posed a similar question, "None of us have really heard much. We know they are pressing forward. We have an analyst in Malaysia who said the company is kind of a black box when it comes to information."
There was an initial burst of euphoria last year when the rescue plan for Echelon Place was first made public, and we heard that the company had sought permission to construct two pagoda-styled preview centers, embellish the surrounding construction fencing with Chinese imagery and a sound system broadcasting news and music, and entertain passers-by with dragon dances. To the best of our knowledge, all of this failed to materialize.
Still, if all goes according to the tight-lipped plan, ground is due to be broken some time this year, with the development taking place in two stages, to be completed in 2016. The plans Resorts World is proposing include:
It’s been hinted to LVA that an announcement might be in the offing, so stay tuned to this frequency.
