CO-CHAIRPERSON AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MGM China Holdings Ltd
GROUP EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR
Shun Tak Holdings
DIRECTOR
STDM
POWER SCORE: 3,491
POSITION LAST YEAR: 10
CLAIMS TO FAME
• Among the most prominent of Dr Stanley Ho’s 17 children
• Has interests in two Macau concessionaires plus multiple other real estate and hospitality groups
One of Macau and Hong Kong’s most prominent businesswomen with a broad portfolio of real estate, travel and entertainment interests, it is Pansy Ho’s 22.49% personal stake in Macau gaming concessionaire MGM China Holdings Ltd that has formed the backbone of her success.
And it’s been an important 18 months for MGM, whose flagship Macau casino and resort MGM Cotai – opened in February 2018 following a series of untimely delays – has started clawing back valuable market share.
At its lowest point in late 2017, MGM’s Macau market share had slumped to just 7% but that figure has now jumped back to 9% and climbing on the back of its Cotai operations.
MGM Cotai itself reported net revenue of US$315.9 million in 2Q19, up from US$184.7 million 12 months earlier, helping push MGM China to a 26% year-on-year increase in GGR. In another positive, the company said that 80% of its second quarter profit was derived from mass market gaming – widely tipped to be the future of the local gaming industry.
That’s good news for Pansy Ho, but she certainly hasn’t used MGM’s recovery as an excuse to rest on her laurels.
Instead, in January of this year she made her move for control of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, SA – the one-time holder of a monopoly on Macau’s casino industry that was founded by her father, Stanley Ho, in 1962 and is now majority owner of SJM Holdings. Alongside MGM, SJM is one of the Macau SAR’s six gaming concessionaires.
By forming an alliance with the Fok Foundation, the combined interests in STDM of Ho and her new partners reached 53% and allowed them to claim six of 10 available seats on the SJM board when internal elections were held earlier this year. Conveniently, MGM’s covenants restrict its shareholders from holding meaningful stakes in any of its rival concessionaires but have written into them an exception for Ho as it relates to SJM.
Meanwhile, the 57-year-old also maintains her role as Group Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Hong Kong’s Shun Tak Holdings, overseeing one of Macau’s biggest land owners with interests in a number of Macau gaming operators including Artyzen Hospitality Group, which owns Grand Lapa.
Shun Tak recently reported a HK$70 million loss for its TurboJET ferry service for the first six months of 2019, down from a profit of HK$186 million, due to the impact of the recently opened Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on its popular Macau ferry routes. But that impact was somewhat negated by the fact that Shun Tak also happens to be one of the bridge’s approved shuttle bus service providers. Shun Tak & CITS Coach (Macao) Limited, better known as Golden Bus, recorded revenue of HK$70 million for the period.
For the full list of 2019 Asian Gaming Power 50 winners, click here.
