Vietnamese firm to invest in massive casino
The Phnom Penh Post | 20 April 2017
A
little-known Vietnamese investment firm plans to build a massive $200 million
mixed-use development that includes a hotel, casino and water park in the dusty
Cambodian border town of Bavet through its fully-owned Malaysian subsidiary, a
government official confirmed yesterday.
The first
phase of the project, dubbed Empire World City, will be constructed on
approximately 50 hectares of land and is headed by Vietnam’s Virtue Resources
which operates through its subsidiary VR Capital Holding Sdn Bhd, a company
with mining interests in Malaysia and a hotel development on the Vietnamese[-controlled, Cambodian] island of Phu Quoc [Koh Tral], according to its website.
Ros
Phirun, deputy director of the finance industry department at Cambodia’s
Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), confirmed yesterday that project has been
granted approval by the Ministry of Land Management and Urban Planning and the
Council for the Development of Cambodia.
“The
government has given them approval to begin construction on the development and
the company will only need to approach the MEF once it seeks a casino licence,”
he said, adding that company has yet to submit casino licensing documents.
Virtue
Resources and VR Capital Holding Sdn Bhd, could not be reached for comment
yesterday about the development or the company’s shareholding structure. Phirun
also could not provide information about the company or its funding sources
citing that it did not fall under MEF jurisdiction.
Nevertheless,
local media reported yesterday that the company signed two agreements last
week, one worth $200 million with the global architectural firm 3Ti Progetti
Asia Ltd, and the other worth $50 million to purchase the land from Cambodian
landowners Mao Vanny and Choun Bony.
The
project is set to be fully completed in 10 years and would also act as an
online casino hub for the region, the report said.
While
Phirun questioned why a Vietnamese company would invest heavily in the
Cambodian casino market after Vietnam partially lifted its long-standing ban
preventing its citizens from entering casinos, he said a 10-year timeline would
allow the project to gauge future growth in the market.
“Slow
development is not necessarily a bad thing as those that try to build too
quickly can only capture the low and medium gaming segment,” he said. “A longer
timeline will allow it to slowly capture the high-end market.”
“And even
if it doesn’t capture the high-end market, the development could be profitable
by operating online gambling websites because that is a worldwide industry,” he
added.
According
to the company’s website, Virtue Resources has previously signed a partnership
agreement with China’s Glorywin Entertainment Group, a company that promotes
gaming and junket activities across Asia, and has operated the luxury casino
Chateau de Bavet since late 2015.
Phirun said
that while “it is possible” that Virtue Resources purchased Chateau de Bavet,
the company’s management had not notified the MEF of a new owner as it would
have required the casino to renew its existing licence.
Glorywin
and Chateau de Bavet could not be reached yesterday.
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