SJM Holdings’ Project In Cotai To Be Called Grand Lisboa Palace

SJM Holdings recently confirmed the official name of its new project in Cotai and confirmed that it will be called as the Grand Lisboa Palace. It was previously going by the name of the Lisboa Palace but since a new building was being developed at the site, SJM decided to go for a brand image makeover at termed it the Grand Lisboa Palace.

In a statement, Ambrose So Shu Fai, Chief Executive Officer of SJM Holdings Limited said,

The new project is built on our branding. The Lisboa is a very strong branding, so we say this is the Grand Lisboa Palace.

The new branding was announced at a dinner at the Grand Lisboa in Macau held to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Grand Lisoba and Hotel Lisoba are the company’s flagship facilities in Macau, which were started by the founder of SJM Holdings, billionaire Stanley Ho Hung Sun back in 1970.

According to Mr So, the project is on track for completion which is expected to be in 2017.

The opening will most likely take place in the fourth-quarter of the year, which will also coincide with the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, a major project featuring a series of bridges and tunnels on the Lingdingyang channel that will connect the cities of Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai. The bridge is expected to reduce the commuting time from Hong Kong to Macau by half.

Mr. So also said that there were signs that the Macau gambling market was stabilising as during the last couple of months, the gross gaming revenue decline had narrowed. Revenues in January continued to record a decline, with a fall of 21.4 percent, but it was lesser than the 23 percent that the analysts had expected. Macau’s gross gaming revenues (GGR) declined in 2015 by 34 percent year-on-year.

The integrated resort casino at Cotai started construction in 2014 and has been inspired by palace of Versailles. The company had planned for 700 gaming tables at the time of its launch but has since scaled it down to 250 tables after the government’s cap system on live dealer gaming tables came into force.

SJM is committed to spending HKD30 billion (US$3.9 billion) on Grand Lisboa Palace. It features Palazzo Versace, a hotel venture with the Italian company Gianni Versace SpA with 270 rooms and suites. A Karl Lagerfeld branded hotel in partnership with Karl Lagerfeld Greater China Holdings Ltd., also with 270 rooms and suites, is also a part of the project. In addition, the Grand Lisboa Palace will have a luxury hotel under its own branding.