MGM Grand Macau, the 50:50 joint venture between MGM MIRAGE and Pansy Ho, plans to relaunch its brand to boost the property’s appeal to Mainland Chinese customers.
“We need to make it a China brand…that’s my role,” Grant Bowie, President of the joint venture’s operating company MGM Grand Paradise Ltd, told Dow Jones.
Mr Bowie, who was president of Wynn Macau from 2003 to 2007, declined to give more precise details on timing and strategy for the MGM Grand Macau changes. The run up to Chinese New Year, which falls on Valentine’s Day, 14th February, this year, would be the obvious time for a revamp. In Chinese culture it’s also a time for cleaning homes of rubbish and bad memories, paying off debts and generally turning over a new leaf in the manner of the New Year resolutions made in the West.
A new leaf would cerrtainly be helpful for MGM Grand Macau. The US$1.25 billion property’s business performance has lagged behind the other foreign owned casino resorts since its launch in December 2007. In 2009 it came bottom of the Macau revenue league table with 9% of the gross gaming take.
“MGM Macau is a brilliant property. However, I don’t think it’s clicked with Mainland Chinese players. I don’t think they have the right product for the local player,” Anil Daswani, global head of gaming for Citigroup, told Dow Jones.
Mr Bowie said the company acknowledges that the MGM brand, while a household name in US gaming, isn’t as strong as they expected in China.
“We want to create the maximum amount of revenue with the least amount of people,” Mr Bowie added. He didn’t provide a revenue target.
Aaron Fischer, head of Asian, consumer & gaming research at CLSA Asia Pacific Markets, said what MGM lacks is an aggressive personality like Wynn Resorts Chief Executive Steve Wynn, who’d be “walking the floors and cracking the whip on (the) employees.”
But MGM Grand Macau could “improve its earnings potential a lot more than the other companies because it’s coming from a low base”, if it successfully restructures the property, said Mr Fischer.
Mr Bowie said the company wouldn’t build the Macau casino differently if given another chance. “We would have integrated it differently,” he said.
Among changes planned are to make the casino’s main entrance more accessible so taxis can more conveniently drop off guests.
Mr Bowie declined to comment on the company’s plans for a public listing on the Hong Kong stock excvhange.
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