Naga seals new gaming area deal
Naga seals new gaming area deal
Phnom Penh casino NagaWorld has signed off a $50 million deal with four different investors to operate a new gaming area, according to a May 28 announcement from its Hong Kong stock exchange-listed parent NagaCorp.
The scheme will be jointly operated, with NagaCorp entitled to 70 per cent of the revenue and the investors the remaining 30 per cent. The news comes after Chinese firm CMC Phnom Penh Import Export agreed to pay NagaCorp $40 million on May 4 to enter “exclusive” negotiations to set up the gaming area.
An additional $10 million will be deposited by the investors to purchase about 300 machines slated to make up the area.
The four companies include CMC and three other “independent” parties: Cambodia-registered businesses Jin He Tai Construction and Top Summit Garment, and a person named “Jinfu” who owns China Central Asia Group, NagaWorld’s builder.
China Central Asia Group was the firm that referred CMC – described as a group of “independent Chinese businessmen” – to NagaWorld, according to a May 6 NagaCorp announcement.
The new gaming area’s high price tag comes with a central location inside NagaWorld, at the new main entrance to the complex slated for completion at the end of this year.
Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen of Union Gaming Securities Asia said the announcement was “good news for Naga shareholders as witnessed by the increase in the stock price recently”.
NagaCorp stock has recently risen to $6.29 a share, up from $4.79 in March, although it is still slightly down from one year ago.
NagaCorp has been striking positive tunes of late, saying it expected the group would record a “significant increase” in net profit for the first half of 2015 largely thanks to the deal.
It said it expected a net profit of “not less than $100 million and potentially more”, up 40 per cent from the same time period last year.
NagaCorp also announced, on Monday, that Chen Yiy Fon, the son of Naga founder Chen Lip Keong, was appointed to an executive director position and as a member of the Anti-Money Laundering Committee of the Company.
