By Muhammad Cohen, Forbes
The Ho Tram Strip needs to expand its reach to foreign guests eligible to gamble at Vietnam’s first world class integrated resort. It can also use a known hotel brand and better connections to junkets. To complete the obligation under its gaming license to invest $4 billion, Ho Tram’s developer Asian Coast Development Limited (ACDL) needs access to capital. It seems to have checked the right boxes with a new investor who co-founded one of the largest hotel chains in Asia as well as a major Macau junket group.
New investor Chien Lee won’t just just rearrange deck chairs at Vietnam’s The Grand-Ho Tram Strip. (Forbes)
Chien Lee helped create 7 Days Group, a chain of budget hotels with 2,000 properties in 300 Asian cities and also established Asia Entertainment and Resources Ltd, now known as Iao Kun Group, which promotes VIP rooms at Galaxy Macau, StarWorld, Sands Cotai Central, City of Dreams and Le Royal Arc, a downtown casino under SJM’s license. Though no longer involved in daily operations of those businesses, Lee believes his experience can bring more guests to The Grand – Ho Tram, which opened a year ago as the first of the four resorts envisioned for the 400 acre seaside site, two hours south of Saigon. The Grand has 541 five-star rooms and 90 tables, 35 on the main floor and 55 in its VIP areas. Only foreign passport holders can enter the casino.
The amount of Lee’s investment, through a US vehicle called NewCity Capital, has not been disclosed. ACDL is majority owned by Phil Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners, with an additional $110 million investment from US regional gaming operator Pinnacle Entertainment, which completely wrote down its stake last year, after delays in the opening and MGM Resorts International’s cancelation of its contract to manage the resort that’s now The Grand.
“This is a hidden diamond,” Lee says of the resort, which also boasts a Greg Norman designed golf course to go along with its mile and a quarter of beachfront. “It just needs someone to uncover it.” Lee believes the market where it can shine brightest is mainland China, where he was born before moving to the US 30 years ago.
The Grand has struggled to get traction with Macau junkets, but Lee will help it reach out to the trade, starting with Iao Kun Group, where he retains the title of special adviser. “I plan to use my network to help Ho Tram build up a relationship with all Macau promoters,” Lee says in a phone interview. “Ho Tram is different from Macau, it’s beautiful. Junkets want products for different tastes, products that offer different experiences.”
Read the full article by Muhammad Cohen from Forbes.
