Casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, a joint venture involving Australian billionaire James Packer, plans to delist its shares in Hong Kong after gambling hub Macau reported its first-ever fall in casino revenues.
Official figures published by the former Portuguese colony on Friday showed gaming revenues fell 2.6 percent year-on-year to 351.52 billion Macau patacas (US$44 billion) last year — the only drop since annual figures were first released in 2002 — because of a corruption crackdown by the Chinese government and a slowdown in the Chinese economy.
Hours later, Melco Crown — which owns Macau’s vast City of Dreams resort complex — said it would delist from the Hong Kong stock exchange “for reasons of cost and utility.”
“Maintaining the listing ... requires additional ongoing regulatory compliance obligations and such requirements involve significant additional costs,” the company said in a statement late on Friday, adding that it did not see opportunities to raise additional equity.
The company will retain its listing on the NASDAQ, where its shares closed on Friday down 4.88 percent at US$24.16. Melco Crown Entertainment is a joint venture between Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho (何猷龍) and James Packer, son of the late Australian media and gambling magnate, Kerry Packer.
The firm, with a market capitalization of close to US$14 billion, owns Macau’s City of Dreams resort complex, which has 1,400 rooms across three hotels located next to major resorts, including The Venetian.
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