AMZ Holdings, a UK-listed property development company poised to build Taiwan’s first casino, said it hoped to agree a joint venture to develop the site with an international gaming group within the next three months.
Aim-listed AMZ owns the biggest piece of privately held land in Penghu, an archipelago in the strait between Taiwan and China that is seen as the most likely location for any gaming development.
Taiwan, which legalised casino gambling this week after 10 years of debate, has set aside two other state-owned plots for potential development.
Officials have indicated that two or three gaming licences will be issued once subsidiary legislation is passed.
Michael Treanor, AMZ’s chief executive, said the company controlled the only land in the area that had already been reassigned for commercial development.
In an interview with the FT he said this would give AMZ “a huge advantage over anyone else”.
“You could stick a shovel in the ground [and start building].”
Mr Treanor said AMZ had been approached by a number of international gaming companies and planned to “explore a strategic joint venture and partnership” with one of the about 15 companies.
He said the companies most likely to be interestedwere those that had failed to win a gaming licence in Macao or Singapore, the two other Asian territories that have recently sought to develop a casino gambling sector.
Taiwan’s gaming legalisation comes when gaming companies round the world are being battered by the financial crisis, and few have the funds to pursue new projects.
However, Mr Treanor said that the requirement for subsidiary legislation to be passed before gaming could begin in Taiwan suggested that a joint venture partner would not have to spend any money for at least two years.
He said: “A lot of companies will want this [project] in their pipeline”.
Mr Treanor estimated the cost of developing a casino at about $1bn, based on requirements likely to be imposed by the Taiwangovernment, which is seeking to follow Singapore’s model of developing integrated resorts, where gaming is a part of a wider range of leisure facilities.
A number of gaming operators, including Macao gaming tycoon Stanley Ho, have expressed interest in building casinos on Penghu, which is also known as the Pescadores.
