Tony Fung’s plans an A$8 billion Barrier Reef megaresort are in limbo while the Hong Kong financier waits for Queensland officials to approve his takeover of a small casino and hotel in nearby Cairns.
Mr Fung’s Aquis Group, developer of the proposed 7,500-room Aquis at the Great Barrier Reef, said it “will be undertaking a strategic review of its plans and development timetable over the coming months” after learning from Queensland’s Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation that it wasn’t possible to grant all approvals by a 28th November deadline Aquis had set for closing on its A$214 million purchase of Reef Casino Trust, owners of The Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns and a sister property, Casino Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory.
The OLGR didn’t indicate when the approvals would be granted, according to news reports, but Aquis said it was working with the agency “to progress its probity enquiries” with a view to completing them as soon as possible.
The trust’s two principal shareholders—Casinos Austria and French hotel giant Accor—have signed off on the purchase, which Aquis sees as necessary to shore up its efforts to secure financing for Aquis at the Great Barrier Reef.
Located on the north Queensland coast about 15 kilometers from Cairns, the mixed-use complex is envisioned as a phased development with eight hotels at full build-out, along with luxury residences, an 18-hole golf course, a water park with a man-made lake and lagoon, shopping, dining and entertainment and convention facilities, a sports stadium and a casino targeting Asian high-rollers, mainly VIPs from China, with 750 table games and 1,500 machine games.
The government of Queensland has granted Aquis at the Great Barrier Reef a preliminary license, one of three the state has authorized—the others are in Gold Coast and Brisbane—to leverage tourism to boost its ailing economy.
The takeover of the 128-room Reef “was always important to Aquis’ overall financial and investment plans,” the group said in a statement, adding that it while it will consider a new bid in 2015, “there is no certainty any such transaction would eventuate”.
The Reef casino currently offers some 40 table games and 500 machine games, which Aquis wants to increase as part of a planned rebranding of the resort targeting the domestic Queensland market.
Separately, the Casino Canberra purchase is expected to be completed before the end of the year at a discount of A$3 million to the original $9 million sale price.
