Leisure/Hotels

Macau bounces into Year of the Rabbit

19 Jan 2023

Spring has sprung in the casino hub with the end of China’s zero-Covid. Operators will return to profit. Yet from Sands to SJM, balance sheets are stretched. How quickly they are repaired depends on if punters spend as much as before. Pandemic policies will leave other scars too.

Capital Calls: Barbarians at the check-in desk

22 Dec 2022

Concise views on global finance: Hotel landlord Vivion is engaged in a war of words with short-seller Muddy Waters, but it could fight back more effectively with cash.  

China’s dreary Golden Week has shades of grey

10 Oct 2022

Domestic tourism sales during the country's top holiday fell to less than 50% of pre-pandemic levels. Cities like Shanghai might get a welcome boost from shoppers that stayed put, but the sector drives roughly 30% of consumption. That’s cold comfort for the weakening economy.

China’s Hawaii washes away an economic sandcastle

8 Aug 2022

A Covid-19 outbreak has locked down cities in Hainan, stranding over 80,000 visitors. It sets back a decent recovery in tourism, a generator of more than 11% of pre-pandemic GDP. With other growth pillars shaky, it’s the worst time to give consumers another reason to check out.

MGM and SJM fuel Macau recovery hopes and fears

4 Aug 2022

The $15 bln U.S. group’s record results in Las Vegas suggests its Chinese casinos should prosper, too, once Beijing’s zero-Covid policy lifts. That, though, is becoming a long-term bet, and cash-burning rivals like SJM are already having to raise more money to stay at the table.

Missing Chinese tourists augur hard economic treks

14 Jun 2022

From Phuket to Paris, destinations that banked on the $255 bln mainlanders spent in overseas hotels, shops and restaurants each year are awakening to the possibility they might be gone indefinitely. It will challenge governments to find new and more sustainable sources of growth.

Casino SPAC is for hardened gamblers only

7 Jun 2022

A legal battle over Okada Manila resort turned physical when its ousted boss seized the property last week. That could scupper its $2.7 bln deal with a U.S. blank-cheque firm. But unfriendly politicians, dubious financial reports and more stack the odds against investors, too.

Hong Kong co-living boom bets on more lonely years

17 May 2022

Warburg Pincus is among those buying hotels in the Asian hub to convert into upscale shared digs for millennials. Given a 99% drop in visitors in the past three years and a belief that won’t reverse soon as officials stick with China’s zero-Covid policy, more deals look likely.

Capital Calls: Buffett’s HP bet, Gambling M&A

7 Apr 2022

Concise views on global finance: Berkshire Hathaway takes a hefty stake in the computer and printer maker; Betting group 888 negotiates a better price for buying UK bookie William Hill.

Capital Calls: U.S. truck drivers go missing

4 Apr 2022

Concise views on global finance: Bonuses and concessions from Washington aren't enough to fill the industry's empty cabs.

Marriott and Airbnb aren’t a tale of two cities

15 Feb 2022

The $56 bln hotel chain’s revenue hasn’t fully recovered to its pre-pandemic level but is expected to grow quickly to get there by next year. Meantime Airbnb’s best growth days may be behind it. Yet the $108 bln home-sharing app’s valuation is far higher. The two need to converge.

Peninsula Hotel owner checks in for expensive stay

19 Jan 2022

Hong Kong’s Kadoorie family paid almost twice market rate to add 12% to its controlling stake in the 156 year-old chain with luxury hotels from Paris to Tokyo. With shares trading at a third of net asset value, it suggests some post-pandemic tourism plays have yet to be booked.

Capital Calls: UK bid gets hedge funds off hook

17 Jan 2022

Concise views on global finance: Private equity group Triton sweetens its offer for pharma group Clinigen to 1.3 bln pounds, raising the chances of hedge funds accepting the deal.

Qatar’s World Cup will pay Gulf-wide dividends

22 Dec 2021

After an awful lead-in, expectations for soccer’s showcase event in 2022 are low. Even so, the tiny emirate’s status will likely benefit. Provided Covid-19 is under control, the jamboree should also boost a regional economic recovery that has lagged other parts of the globe.

Capital Calls: Zoom, U.S. jobs

3 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: The video-conferencing service is investing in Amex Global Business Travel as part of a $5.3 bln SPAC deal; in the United States, only 210,000 positions were added in November, but the unemployment rate fell.

Capital Calls: Dan Loeb, Daily Mail

2 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: The billionaire activist swats away his own gadfly investor; the UK tabloid’s controlling Rothermere family sweetens its take-private offer, to the presumable delight of the campaigners on its news desk.

Macau mogul’s downfall is good news for casinos

1 Dec 2021

China’s investigation into an illegal gambling group casts a shadow over Alvin Chau’s Suncity, which once helped high rollers fund as much as $8 bln in wagers each year in the betting hub. But the VIP market is a drag on earnings. Ending it can help strengthen recovering casinos.

China’s bet on Covid-zero worsens odds for Macau

29 Nov 2021

Beijing’s draconian restrictions are a growing problem for Wynn, Sands, and other casino operators in the gambling hub. Resorts sit half-empty with gaming at 30% of pre-pandemic highs. They can live without foreign tourists, but local visitors are their lifeblood.

Capital Calls: McDonald’s, GM, Worldline

27 Oct 2021

Concise views on global finance: The $177 bln fast-food chain boosted sales by making it easier to get burgers and nuggets; supply shortages are exacerbating the carmaker’s heavy investment bill; shares in the French payments group tumbled despite ambitious growth targets.

Crown deserves the Jamie Dimon approach to failure

26 Oct 2021

The Australian casino operator can keep its local licence despite investigators labelling its breaches “illegal”. It smacks of too big to fail. Penalising investors, selling assets and burying the name, as JPMorgan’s boss suggested for bad banks, would be a better outcome.