Shun Tak Holdings Ltd, run by the family of casino tycoon Stanley Ho, will buy a 75 per cent stake in a Macau property project from Mr Ho

Shun Tak Holdings Ltd, run by the family of casino tycoon Stanley Ho, will buy a 75 per cent stake in a Macau property project from Mr Ho’s private company and billionaire Gordon Wu for HK$6.87 billion (S$1.4 billion).

Shun Tak will pay Mr Wu’s Hopewell Holdings Ltd HK$4.58 billion for a 50 per cent stake in the Nova City/Nova Taipa Gardens project in Macau, Hopewell said in a statement on Tuesday.

It will pay Mr Ho’s Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau HK$2.29 billion for its 25 per cent stake, Shun Tak spokeswoman Catherine Szeto said.

The purchase will give Shun Tak full ownership of the project, up from 25 per cent.

Property prices in Macau, the only city in China where casinos are legal, are climbing as soaring gaming revenue and rising tourism boost the economy.

‘We have a leadership role in the property market in Macau,’ Ms Szeto said in a phone interview.

The company has sufficient cash and existing financing to pay for the purchase, she added.

Shares in Hopewell rose 5.1 per cent to HK$32.75 as of 10:21am in Hong Kong, heading for their biggest gain in more than a year.

Hong Kong-based Shun Tak is buying the shops at Nova Taipa Gardens and Nova City, the uncompleted residential phases four and five of Nova City and all cash and receivables from units sold in the first three phases, the company said in a faxed statement late on Tuesday.

Real estate in Macau last year sold at an average 1,519 patacas (S$290.3) per square foot, more than doubling from 2002, according to Midland Realty Ltd, a Hong Kong-based property agency.

Macau’s economy may grow 16.5 per cent this year and next according to Enoch Fung, a Hong Kong-based economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The economy grew 16.6 per cent last year, more than twice as fast as its 6.9 per cent expansion in 2005.

Last year, Shun Tak and Hongkong Land Ltd sold all 800 apartments at One Central Residence, a luxury real estate project in Macau at an average price of about HK$5,000 per square foot.

The apartments are scheduled to be finished in 2009.

In addition to developing real estate, Shun Tak also operates the main ferry service linking Hong Kong to Macau and manages hotels.

Hong Kong-based Hopewell develops real estate, runs hotels and owns stakes in toll roads in China.

Source: The Business Times, 28 June 2007