“Even with COVID, our local teams have continued to engage with the Yokohama officials and authority. Ever since Yokohama declared its candidacy, we have said that we are Yokohama first and we’ll continue to do that,” also commented Ho.
He added that in terms of the legislative framework: “Nothing has been changed in the last year or two so I can’t speak to that. I can’t speculate why LVS is not pursuing the opportunity. Japan continues to be a core focus for us.”
“We believe our focus on the Asian premium segment, a portfolio of high-quality assets, devotion to craftsmanship, dedication to world-class entertainment offerings, market-leading social safeguard systems, established track record of successful partnerships, culture of exceptional guest service, and commitment to employee development puts Melco in a strong position to help Yokohama realize the vision of developing a world-leading IR with a unique, Japanese touch,” Melco’s CEO also said.
Melco President Evan Winkler highlighted there was though a concern over the ten-year licence. “I think if you took the perspective that at the end of the 10 years your resort might go away, it would obviously change your investment Dynamic. But we’ve operated in markets, and we’re operating in one now, where there is technically a finite life to a license. And what we’ve found is if you’re a good partner to the government and do a good job in terms of resorts, CSR and other things that we do very well, your expectation is that the license would perpetuate,” he said.
The level of investment into the Japanese IR certainly won’t be falling due to Sands pulling out.
“For a Tier 1 location like Yokohama US$10bn is still the target because at the end of the day, given the site and the size of the site and just to build out the GFA will cost that much. And also given Yokohama is going to be so close to Tokyo. I do think that even though there’s less competition right now the national government is going to be expecting a – really a best possible bit. So I think in any case, whether there’s more competition or less competition, it’s still around the same price tag,” Ho explained.
Source: GMB / G3 Newswire
