Melco Resorts & Entertainment Chairman Lawrence Ho says he is open to expanding the company’s Philippines integrated resort, City of Dreams Manila, onto vacant land alongside the property owned by its local partner Belle Corp.
His comments come after Belle Corp revealed in April that it had submitted a proposal to Melco’s Philippines subsidiary, Melco Resorts (Philippines), to expand City of Dreams Manila onto one hectare of vacant land, to be used primarily for non-gaming facilities including at least one new hotel.
Discussing City of Dreams Manila in a recent interview with CNBC, Ho confirmed his company’s interest.
“We’re looking at potentially expanding,” Ho said. “I think there is contiguous land around where our resort is so we are looking at expanding together with our Philippines partner but … still early days.”
Belle Corp President Manuel Gana claimed in April that Belle would explore using the land for its own purposes if Melco didn’t come to the party, but added he would “prefer Melco to get involved so it can be consolidated into City of Dreams.”
Ho was quick to talk up his company’s strong track record of partnerships, stating “we continue to have a great partnership” with Belle Corp.
